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Would you hyphenate “high touch” when used this way:

Those customer interactions are high touch.

If used immediately before a noun, you would hyphenate, right? It would be "high-touch customer interactions." But do you hyphenate this term when it appears at the end of a sentence? I’ve seen both ways.

Laurel
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debbiesym
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  • Since "high" is an adjective and not an adverb, I would hyphenate it, but merely to avoid ambiguity, which the phrase "high-touch" already has. Do you mean "haptic"? There are some general rules but also disagreement about the use of the hyphen for these cases. – Martin Krzywinski May 05 '17 at 22:56
  • Nice word, "haptic." I will remember that one! But, no, it's not appropriate in this case. A high-touch customer interaction is one that requires a salesperson to pay a great deal of attention to the customer, whereas, in a low touch interaction, the needs of the customer are minimal. – debbiesym May 05 '17 at 23:08
  • From the CMoS quoted in the linked answer: "Where the compound adjective follows the noun it modifies, there is usually little to no risk of ambiguity or hesitation, and the hyphen may be safely omitted." – Laurel Jan 28 '23 at 00:25
  • Why did you not Post any example of 'high touch' at the end of a sentence, with or without the hyphen? – Robbie Goodwin Feb 21 '23 at 21:18
  • When I threw 'high touch' at Google every hit bar two came back basically saying 'touchy feely.' One talked about finer-plates; another about some data-synching software which, I suppose might be 'high tech.' So no, thanks. Other search engines are available but still, what reason could there be for ignoring the normal rules of hyphenation, as Linked above? – Robbie Goodwin Feb 21 '23 at 21:19

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No. It shouldn't be hyphenated that way and hyphenated or not, it shouldn't be used that way at all. Those customer interactions are high touch might be intelligible to those in the know and d’you think anyone outside sales would get it without help? I’ve been in and out of sales since the millennium and never once heard that expression…

Would you use those cars are high speed instead of capable of high speed(s) or even just … speedy/fast/rather quick?

Would you say those items are high cost instead of have rather high prices or even just … expensive/pricey/costly?

Robbie Goodwin
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  • Weird. I make my living mowing grass and I'm perfectly at home with the phrase and have been for decades. It first emerged in juxtaposition with high tech. (Okay, I looked it up and it seems I read the book where it first appeared when I was in college) – Phil Sweet Jan 28 '23 at 02:21
  • I didn't read this one though - High Tech/High Touch. https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/high-techhigh-touch-technology-and-our-accelerated-search-for-meaning_john-naisbitt_nana-naisbitt/1077155/item/43645055/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAic6eBhCoARIsANlox86He0NbKJ4Ws2F9cCcFV8U02XuTyvWlmREGpJW_iKj6d1M9huUUThEaAuB-EALw_wcB#idiq=43645055&edition=58800598 – Phil Sweet Jan 28 '23 at 02:25
  • @PhilSweet Are you suggesting everyone here should read the lengthy text at that thrift-link, or could you summarize the most relevant parts?

    Can you say how mowing grass helps here, or even matters?

    When you've been at home with the phrase for decades can you say how it works, in connection with grass-mowing or anywhere else, or are you asserting an unsupported claim?

    When did it emerge in juxtaposition with high tech?

    Which book in which it first appeared did you read when you were in college? Would you rather Post a title; at least a description, or what?

     – Robbie Goodwin Feb 06 '23 at 22:21
  • No, I was just pointing out that there was a best-seller with the phrase in the title. – Phil Sweet Feb 07 '23 at 03:32
  • The phrase first appeared in Megatrends by Naisbitt. High Tech/High Touch was his next book to be published. – Phil Sweet Feb 07 '23 at 04:00
  • @PhilSweet When you've been at home with that phrase 'for decades' how many decades are you claiming?

    Google suggests Naismith's High-tech/high-touch: Technology and Our Search for Meaning came out in 1999. I see that gives literally 'decades' but rhetorically? Usefully? Are you kidding?

     – Robbie Goodwin Feb 13 '23 at 20:28
  • I read Megatrends in the '80's, so I've known the phrase since I was 20 or so. I think four decades qualifies as decades. – Phil Sweet Feb 14 '23 at 01:20
  • Of course 'since the 80s' qualifies as 'decades' and that's not the point at all… take a vote here if you doubt me!

    The point is not whether you're 'perfectly at home with the phrase' but whether the fact that you heard it decades ago in any way justifies the idea 'and have been for decades…' which I'm sorry, it doesn't.

    There's no written rule but if there were, it would be to the effect that 'I've been perfectly at home with the phrase for decades…' carried the meaning 'I've had my belief confirmed time and again over decades…'

    I suggest that's not at all what you're saying…

     – Robbie Goodwin Feb 14 '23 at 23:02
  • Honestly, Robbie, I can't understand what you are saying above. I have been at home with the phrase since I first heard it. I think it is very widely known, and has been for a very long time. – Phil Sweet Feb 14 '23 at 23:38
  • What is your point? Do you want me to change something I wrote? If so, what? – Phil Sweet Feb 14 '23 at 23:42
  • Why is it difficult to see that 'I came across the phrase once, 40 years ago' is in no useful way similar to 'I'm perfectly at home with the phrase and have been for decades'. The one is, presumably, true. The other cuts no mustard, which is why I'd love it if you withdrew the whole idea… but what you change is up to you. – Robbie Goodwin Feb 14 '23 at 23:52
  • Nowhere did I say I ran across it once 40 years ago. It entered the lexicon and is on a par with "high tech" as an idiomatic phrase. "High tech" shows up as 17 times more common than "high touch" in Google Ngrams. That makes it pretty darn common. – Phil Sweet Feb 15 '23 at 01:15
  • Sorry, Phil. Who was it said 'I read Megatrends in the '80's' and how is that not 40-odd years ago? – Robbie Goodwin Feb 21 '23 at 20:38