Does one hyphenate height when given in feet and inches?
In a work of fiction I'm writing, I'm using the colloquial phrase five-one to refer to someone's height. Should that be hyphenated as five-one, or should it just be written woth a space separating the two parts, so as five one?
Solution 1:
The Chicago Manual of Style says
Hyphenated before a noun, open otherwise: a five-foot-ten quarterback, but five feet ten [inches tall]
In a different section, CMoS gives this example:
She is five feet nine (or, more colloquially, five foot nine or five nine).
So, following these rules in a colloquial vein:
She was a five-two ball of fire.