Book 6 Title -- Hyphen?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 112297

bamf wrote:
> 
> Alas, I have found the hyphen usage on the website. 
> My reasoning for not using the hyphen, though, was if
> an object (statue, painting) of a Blood Prince had
> been halved, or broken, then the part that remains
> could be called the half blood prince.  Like a
> reference point, or landmark, in the school (like the
> statue of Uric the Oddball? and others that are
> referenced every now and again).
> 
> That was why I was waiting to see what it was actually
> called.  But it does look like I have to stick the
> hyphen in. Drat... ;)
> 
> 


Carol:
I don't know what the British rules are regarding hyphen usage, but in
American English, a temporary compound (i.e., one that's not in the
dictionary) consisting of an adjective plus a noun or participle is
hyphenated if it precedes the noun it modifies. Since "half" is an
adjective and "blood" is a noun and they both precede "prince," the
compound adjective is hyphenated. (Source: "The Chicago Manual of
Style," 14th edition, p. 221)

Carol, who as an American editor would have dutifully inserted the
hyphen along with a query to the author, "OK, per CMS?" to which JKR
would no doubt have responded, "What?"