A Far-Flung Correspondent Writes

From Saskatchewan, to ask whether it’s court house or courthouse.

Either, really. Or, better, court-house.

The OED uses a hyphen, but its examples of usage (mostly from the US) give all three forms.

The single-word, no-hyphen version is often seen (British Columbia has its Courthouse Libraries), but does suggest an unnatural pronunciation (coor-THOWZE).

Perhaps the best way to go is to talk about the Victoria Avenue Court House in Regina, but to say that the parties settled on the court-house steps.

Neil Guthrie (@guthrieneil)

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