Learn English – Is “office hours” correct if it refers to a single hour

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My coworker is suggesting a change to “office hour” in this case. Is that more right?

I know “hour” as a unit should be singular when (and only when) there’s exactly one, but as part of the name for hours of operation – e.g. “office hours” or “visiting hours” or “member hours” or simply “hours” – the singular form seems strange to me.

I could see using singular if there’s an implicit assumption that the referenced period of time is now, and will always be, exactly one hour, like an inherent feature, to the point that you could drop the end of the range as it would be implied (e.g. “Office hour: 9am”). In our case, the period has been longer in the past, and may be again in future, so it feels more correct to use “hours” to implicitly accommodate that possibility.

As for the other way around – phrases that use the singular “hour” for periods that are nonspecific or not exactly one hour, such as “dinner hour” or “witching hour” – this comment suggests that correct usage here is simply idiomatic, so perhaps that’s the case for “office hour(s)” too? [Edit: My examples here may be bogus, since I realized e.g. “dinner hour” can be a non-durational point in time, like an appointment; and “witching hour” is technically exactly one hour, though I think common usage might’ve moved away from that.]

Best Answer

When I think of someone writing about office hours, or an hour at the office, I think of the words “office hours”, because in this case they are not being used as separate words put together (office + hours), but as one phrase that means a time spent at the office. I think your friend is thinking of the words as separate, their meanings individually. But put together and the plural “hours” doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be used for multiple hours.

For example, do you mean something like this?:

During my office hours, I spent an entire 45 minutes trying to print a report just to find out that my computer had somehow disconnected itself from the office network.

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