Junk food sweats or Junk-food sweats?

Question

Which in your opinion would be correct?
I've been using 'junk food sweats' and have checked a dictionary to see if it can be hyphenated but there is no entry for that.
The is also a film called 'fast food nation.' Which also doesn't include a hyphen.

GPY · Accepted Answer

Is it possible that you mean "junk food sweets"?

Ryansamturner · Answer

Possibly. I have heard of 'junk food sweats' in BE. Kind of like the meat sweats.
Either way, I assume from your answer it would be the non-hyphenated version?

CalifJim · Answer

ryansamturnersweats

1. episodes of intense perspiration
2. sweatshirts

CJ

GPY · Answer

Oh, OK, well it would mean sweating brought on by consumption of junk food, I guess? I have not heard the expression.

A very strict hyphenator would probably like to see "junk-food sweats" and "fast-food nation". Probably the majority would be happy that "junk food" and "fast food" are well known combinations, and that there is no risk of these being misunderstood as "food sweats" that are "junk" or a "food nation" that is "fast", so would consider a hyphen unnecessary.

More generally, hyphen usage is decreasing, with many people failing to use them even in cases where I would consider them necessary. This may be partly because people feel they are fussy, but often just because they do not properly understand their use.

Many normally unhyphenated compound nouns can potentially be hyphenated when used as modifiers. These are not normally listed separately in dictionaries, so the absence of an entry does not really tell you much.

Ryansamturner · Answer

Yeah, that's what I mean.
Some people get the sweats after eating junk food, therefore they have a case of the junk food sweats.
Would 'junk food sweats' be ok then? Without the hyphen.

GPY · Answer

ryansamturnerYeah, that's what I mean.Some people get the sweats after eating junk food, therefore they have a case of the junk food sweats.Would 'junk food sweats' be ok then? Without the hyphen.

Please see my earlier reply. I'm guessing we may have overlapped.

Grammarfreak · Answer

ryansamturner'junk food sweats'

This phrase does not make any sense. But if you want to use ' The Fast Food Nation" as a title of a book, no hyphen is needed. Generally speaking, if you try to use two words or more to form a compound adjective to describe another noun, i.e. " I love that 'ruby -red sweater ", hyphen is required. However, that is not always true. For example, go to this link and look at the list of cakes: No hyphen was used for the variety of cakes
http://www.yummly.com/recipes/white-chocolate-strawberry-cheesecake

Sometimes, if the context is easily understood, we can bypass the "hyphen" rules. There are times, with out a hyphen, the meaning can be completely different.

The Hyphen Might Be Essential

Sometimes a hyphen is essential to avoid ambiguity. Look at these examples:

a heavy-metal detector
a heavy metal detector
You may find this link useful:
http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/hyphens_in_compound_adjectives.htm

Ryansamturner · Answer

CalifJimryansamturnersweats1. episodes of intense perspiration2. sweatshirtsCJ

Hi CJ,
What do you think? Would you think that 'junk food sweats' would be acceptable?

Ryansamturner · Answer

GPYryansamturnerYeah, that's what I mean.Some people get the sweats after eating junk food, therefore they have a case of the junk food sweats.Would 'junk food sweats' be ok then? Without the hyphen.Please see my earlier reply. I'm guessing we may have overlapped.

Thanks.
Trawling through the Internet looking at things like 'fast food taxes' and 'fast food restaurants' there seems to be both version, both hyphenated and non-hyphenated, so I am no clearer on which is correct, if there is a correct option.
I'm witting a book and want to make sure that I use the correct thing.

GPY · Answer

ryansamturnerTrawling through the Internet looking at things like 'fast food taxes' and 'fast food restaurants' there seems to be both version, both hyphenated and non-hyphenated, so I am no clearer on which is correct,

There is no black-and-white answer to that. Different people prefer different styles. A rule of thumb that you may wish to adopt in cases like this is to ask whether the hyphen improves readability or resolves ambiguity. If the answer is no then don't bother with one.

Junk food sweats or Junk-food sweats?

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