8bit or 8-bit

[nq:1]When used as an adjective, which is the prefered use, with or without a hyphen? 8bit data bus 8-bit data ... a quick Google and "8-bit" gets 6.4m hits and "8bit" gets 3.2m hits.Seems to me you've answered your own question.[/nq]
Will.

[nq:1]When used as an adjective, which is the prefered use, with or without a hyphen? 8bit data bus 8-bit data ... address space 32-bit address space I did a quick Google and "8-bit" gets 6.4m hits and "8bit" gets 3.2m hits.[/nq]
I can't see any justification for "8bit" (which to me almost seems like it should be "octobit", wot?).

Steny '08!

[nq:2]When used as an adjective, which is the prefered use, ... and "8-bit" gets 6.4m hits and "8bit" gets 3.2m hits.[/nq]
[nq:1]I can't see any justification for "8bit" (which to me almost seems like it should be "octobit", wot?).[/nq]
Or some kind of texting abbreviation.
Cu l8er allig8or

Ross Howard

[nq:1]When used as an adjective, which is the prefered use, with or without a hyphen? 8bit data bus 8-bit data bus 16bit word 16-bit word 24bit palette 24-bit palette 32bit address space 32-bit address space[/nq]
I can't speak for everyone, but I can speak for those who value doing things correctly.
An 8-bit data bus is a data bus eight bits wide.
A 16-bit word is a word sixteen bits l

[nq:1]When used as an adjective, which is the prefered use, with or without a hyphen? 8bit data bus 8-bit data ... 32-bit address space I did a quick Google and "8-bit" gets 6.4m hits and "8bit" gets 3.2m hits. JGH[/nq]
Why either? What is wrong with just a space -even if in an adjectival sense?

Henry

[nq:1]Why either? What is wrong with just a space -even if in an adjectival sense?[/nq]
Because when phrases of one part of speech are converted to other parts, the hyphens disambiguate.
For example "log in" is a verb (main parts: log in / logged in / logged in / logging in / logs in). So if you tell someone to list his log in names, he may wonder in which names he is to list his log. Tell

[nq:1]When used as an adjective, which is the prefered use, with or without a hyphen? 8bit data bus 8-bit data bus 16bit word 16-bit word 24bit palette 24-bit palette 32bit address space 32-bit address space[/nq]
When I saw it in the subject line I thought it said " or 8-bit".

The hyphen seems to aid clarity.

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa

[nq:1]When I saw it in the subject line I thought it said " or 8-bit".[/nq]
I think Santa needs to bring you, in addition to a proper Internet connection, a new ribbon for your Teletype.

Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

[nq:1]But too many hyphens can be bad, too. There is a restaurant near us that has on its menu the item "6-crab puffs". What, exactly, is a 6-crab puff, and how many are there to an order?[/nq]
Looks as if your menu is written by the same people who decided Lynne Truss's "newspaper style-book" was a typo for "newspaper-style book".

But speaking of restaurants, I'm still wondering how

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004, In message , Stewart Gordon writes
[nq:1]But speaking of restaurants, I'm still wondering how a Plaice chip (which I had some of earlier this year) is different from a normal chip.[/nq]
Both eyes are on the same side, and it is much flatter.
Mark Browne
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