Expert: Kaylyn Anderson - 7/12/2008

Question
I fear the proper spelling is the latter, though my gut tells me it's the former. The CMOS is
unclear about this--at least to me--in section 7.14 "Noun Coinages." My wife posits a
third (and fourth) possible version:
How-Tos
How-To's
Is there any ironclad way of spelling this?

Answer
Dear Stephen:

Thank you for writing to AllExperts. The term "how-to," used as an adjective, traces to 1926, followed in 1954 with "how-to" as a noun. Often, we insert a hyphen between nouns to coin an adjective.

Anyway, how-tos is accurate used as an adjective and as a noun.

Sincerely,
Kaylyn