hyphenation - Should "Big Bang Theory" be hyphenated?



A juxtaposition of two of today's questions, Hyphenate or not and What does "zazzy" mean?, prompts this one. Shouldn't one use a hyphen? Or is there a pun I'm missing?



Answer



A hyphen is one way of specifying or clarifying that it is the bang and not the theory that is being called big. Capitalization, italicization, or enclosure within quotation marks can all effect the requisite grouping without hyphen. As the title of a television show, however, the phrase should simply be rendered as it is on the title cards (eccentric capitalization excepted), and italicized: The Big Bang Theory. If some sexual double entendre is intended for the word bang (as when Eccentrica Gallumbits terms Zaphod Beeblebrox “the best bang since the Big One”), it hardly affects the grouping or compound-adjective issue.


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