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Last year, I started using the AP Stylebook for proper news writing. First published in 1953, the volume contains rules and explanations for grammar, capitalizations, abbreviations, official titles, and much more.
According to the Elements of Journalism, Thomas Cahill said that one could tell “the worldview of a people… the invisible fears and desires… in a culture’s stories.” You can tell something about a culture from its grammar and style rules too, though there is no entry for “love,” “fears” or “desires” in the AP Stylebook.
The latest edition added entries for terms such as the iPhone and WMD. Here are a few other things I learned while flipping through its pages:
10 Things I Learned from the AP Stylebook
1. I’ve been living a lie–Avenue is abbreviated “Ave.” not simply “Ave” (I have to tell Mom.)
2. Finally, I have a definition for milquetoast at my beck and call, “Not milk toast when referring to a shrinking apologetic person. Derived from Caspar Milquetoast, a character in a comic strip by Harold T. Webster.”
3. Apparently “diarrhea” is worthy of an entry, but not a definition. (It should be lower case, by the way.)
4. According to the grammar rules, the famous movie title should be “Lawrence (comma) of Arabia.”
5. You should capitalize “Army” when referring to US forces (with or without the US specification), but use lowercase when referring to other countries. Supposedly this is because other countries don’t use the term “army,” but the rule seems a little US military-centric (at least to someone who went to a Quaker college).
6. “Do not use deaf and dumb.”
7. The names of monotheistic gods are capitalized while polytheistic deities are not. (Is this a group discount?)
8. On a related note, “devil” is lowercase, but you should capitalize “Satan.”
9. No entry for “nerd,” sadly.
10. Under the definition of “web,” the book cautioned that, “The Internet is a sprawling databank that’s about one-quarter wheat and three-quarters chaff.” Since it must be capitalized, Internet seems to be more important than the devil but on par with God and Satan.
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Shhh…super secret special for blog readers.
Comments (19)
Comment
Great, now I have to go get my driver license changed. Why did no one tell me it was ‘Ave(period)’?! Thanks for this Quick 10; I found it particularly hilarious.
posted by adrienne on 7-9-2008 at 6:58 pm
I learned that although both “advisor” and “adviser” are correct spellings, the AP wants everybody to use “adviser.” I would much rather be rebellious, as I find an advisor more professional-looking than an adviser.
posted by Jon on 7-9-2008 at 8:26 pm
I’m confused with the monotheistic/polytheistic rule. If Jesus is a man then we capitalize it? Because if you deify him then it’s polytheism which means you would write it jesus. But then again like in Hinduism, if Shiva and Vishnu are all just a part of Brahma, then do you consider it polytheism or monotheism? I guess it’s just easier being Jewish. We just have God.
posted by Michelle on 7-9-2008 at 8:51 pm
I had always been told that my university preferred the “adviser” spelling so when I got a promotion, I ordered my business cards with that spelling. Then my appointment letter came and it was spelled with an O! Now I don’t know what I am.
By the hammer of Thor (er, thor)!
posted by srah on 7-9-2008 at 9:27 pm
Um, almost every English-speaking country uses the term “army”. Certainly Australia and New Zealand do.
The term is from Latin via French, so the USA certainly doesn’t have a monopoly on the term despite the beliefs held by AP.
For shame!
posted by David on 7-9-2008 at 9:52 pm
If you’re looking in the AP Stylebook for the word “nerd,” you can probably define it by looking in a mirror. :)
(I include myself in that.)
posted by MH on 7-9-2008 at 9:55 pm
Is website still “Web site”? This drove me nuts when I was at the newspaper.
And given it’s new logo, I think it’s finally Walmart, not Wal-Mart (or was it Wal-mart?)
posted by Sally Villarreal on 7-9-2008 at 10:06 pm
Unfunny “on par with Jesus and Satan” crack. The phrase World Wide Web is trademarked.
posted by Benjamin Baxter on 7-9-2008 at 11:46 pm
The official US Postal Service address standardization guidelines specifically do away with punctuation. They also prefer all-caps and have a set of standard abbreviations. So it’s perfectly okay to do something like this (at least on an envelope):
100 E MAIN AVE APT 123
ANYTOWN CO 80200
posted by Chad Cloman on 7-10-2008 at 1:49 am
David: Just what I was thinking. Over here it’s just ‘The Army’. Actually, that’s quite odd – we have a Royal Air Force and a Royal Navy, but the Army is just the Army (or sometimes the British Army), not the Royal Army. I wonder why they got left out when the Royals were being handed out.
posted by MaW on 7-10-2008 at 2:53 am
What’s wrong with “deaf and dumb” as a phrase? Do they explain?
posted by Debbie on 7-10-2008 at 8:27 am
Rules were meant to be broken.
reCaptcha: “We Concombres”
posted by Florida on 7-10-2008 at 9:02 am
@michelle
Jesus is considered to be God, not *a* god, so Christianity is not considered polytheistic. Christians “just have God” too (though I grant you, a slightly different view of Him.)
@David
I know it’s the cool thing to do to bash the US’s military/government, but capitalizing Army does not imply ownership of the term. The “United States Army” is the proper name of an institution, just like, say, the “University of Minnesota” is a proper name, and does not imply that Minnesota thinks it owns the word “university”.
posted by kate on 7-10-2008 at 9:12 am
Everyone needs to realize that the AP Stylebook was developed to simply be a standard for newspapers. Not only would grammar appear the same, but many of the rules also come from saving space in the paper, like the gentleman’s comma.
It’s not incorrect to say “this, that, and the other.” But AP would have you leave out the final comma in order to save space. It meant a lot when someone had to go through and place each letter individually on the press to print the paper.
My other favorite AP rule is farther versus further. Use “farther” to refer to a physical distance: “The boy is farther away than the girl.” User “further” to refer to something that exists in space in time: “We are no further toward our savings goal than we were last year.” (”Toward” without an ’s’ is also correct according to AP style.
I spent four years in Journalism school — the AP Style Book was (and still is) my grammar bible.
posted by Lindsey on 7-10-2008 at 11:07 am
I forgot to mention that not every newspaper in the U.S. follows AP style. Many use it as a basis and add their own style rules as well. The New York Times use of ‘Mr.” and “Ms.” plus last name on all references after the first is an example.
posted by Lindsey on 7-10-2008 at 11:10 am
Thank you for this! A friend of mine often calls me Satan while I, in kind, refer to him as the devil. Today’s 10 topic proves that I am of more importance to the world than my lowercase friend. I’ve already pointed this fact out to him in an appropriately capitalized email. ;P
posted by Daphne on 7-10-2008 at 12:25 pm
Waitaminnit, #7 doesn’t make any sense. The way it’s worded here implies that you would write “zeus” instead of “Zeus.” “Zeus” is a proper name, and thus gets a capital letter. Perhaps the correct reading of the rule is that the word “god” gets a capital when referring to a monotheistic deity and not when referring to a polytheistic one? So, “The god Zeus hurls lightning,” but “God is great.”
Coincidence check: for a comment relating to capitalizing (and thus giving more honor to) a monotheistic deity, the reCaptcha is “this wafers.” My Catholic Mother would be amused!
posted by Matt on 7-10-2008 at 1:30 pm
@Debbie
I think it’s because the words “deaf and dumb” have transformed and become put-downs. Much in the way that “idiot”, which was once a precise medical term has transformed into an insult.
I’m not sure if it’s the phrase “deaf and dumb” or both words individually that are prohibited, but “dumb” is no longer an appropriate way to describe someone who cannot speak.
posted by Chad Cloman on 7-11-2008 at 1:34 am
If voicemail is a compound word and mailbox is a compound word, do you write voicemailbox or voice mailbox or voicemail box?????
posted by tina on 7-14-2008 at 3:52 pm