English Language & Usage Asked by Mr. Mastodon Farm on May 6, 2021
Is the bold construct below valid? Does it have a name? What sort of punctuation would you use for it?
Fnord, the something-come-such-and-so, was under development for a year or so. It suffered a redesign late last year to satisfy changing customer demands. We had a something on hand; customers wanted such-and-so.
I swear I’ve heard or read this construction before. It falls on my ear as old fashioned (dare I say “vintage”?), though not quite archaic.
You're thinking of cum (/kʌm/), which means:
combined with; also used as (used to describe things with a dual nature or function): a study-cum-bedroom
It's also legal to use it without hyphenation:
The same applies to his long-running Korean-war vet cum knight errant.
Correct answer by Gnawme on May 6, 2021
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