Comments on: The Quick 10: 10 Things I Learned from the AP Stylebook

By: tina

tina — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:52:00 +0000

If voicemail is a compound word and mailbox is a compound word, do you write voicemailbox or voice mailbox or voicemail box?????

By: Chad Cloman

Chad Cloman — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:34:23 +0000

@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.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:30:16 +0000

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!

By: Daphne

Daphne — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:25:23 +0000

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

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:10:40 +0000

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.

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:07:48 +0000

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.

By: kate

kate — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:12:43 +0000

@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”.

By: Florida

Florida — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:02:55 +0000

Rules were meant to be broken.

reCaptcha: “We Concombres”

By: Debbie

Debbie — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:27:26 +0000

What’s wrong with “deaf and dumb” as a phrase? Do they explain?

By: MaW

MaW — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:53:46 +0000

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.