on-and-off boyfriend

[navi tasan]

Are these sentences correct:
1) I talked to your on-and-off junky boyfriend.
2) I talked to your junky on-and-off boyfriend.

3) I talked to that on-and-off junky boyfriend of yours.
4) I talked to that junky on-and-off boyfriend of yours.

In which case:
a) the fellow was an on-and-off junky and 'your boyfriend'
and in which case:
b) He was 'your on-and-off' boyfriend and a junky

I think '1' and '3' are ambiguous and '2' and '4' correspond to 'b', but if I heard '1' and '3', I'd assume they meant 'b'.

Gratefully,
Navi.

 

[emsr2d2]

I think you mean "junkie" (if you're talking about someone who's addicted to drugs). "Junky" (which I don't think is actually used) would mean "related to junk" (trash, rubbish).

 

[Raymott]

I would use "on-off boyfriend" in AusE.

 

[navi tasan]

Thank you both very much,

Yes, I meant 'junkie'. I am sorry about that.

Gratefully,
Navi.

 

[GoesStation]

"On-and-off boyfriend" sounds natural to my AmE-trained ears.

 

[jutfrank]

We don't really use on-and-off junky, so the phrase would be interpreted to apply to boyfriend in all four cases.

1) and 3) sound most natural to me.

 

[jutfrank]

"Junky" (which I don't think is actually used) would mean "related to junk" (trash, rubbish).

My Penguin edition of William Burroughs' classic novel is titled Junky.

(I wonder if there may be a BrE/AmE thing here.)

 

[Tdol]

I would assume that in most cases the person was a junkie and that the on-off part referred to their boyfriend status.