Hyphens, En Dashes, Em Dashes
Q. Please help. Does “blue black berries” require a hyphen? What about “deep violet blue color”? We’ve had to look beyond CMOS for guidance because the issue of compound color modifiers isn’t thoroughly covered, although as CMOS is our primary reference, we would happily defer to you. Many of our publications include compound color modifiers, and it’s become a bit tense around here as some insert hyphens and others remove them.
A. You’re right—CMOS should step up and clarify this issue in the next edition. Meanwhile, to lower the stress perhaps you could simply hyphenate compound color modifiers before a noun but not after, with exceptions for anything that seems awkward.
