Further proving how much of a geek I am, I bought the 2004 edition of the AP stylebook at the bookstore tonight. For those not in the biz, the AP stylebook is essentially the copy editor's Bible. We reference it for spellings, usage and other style related questions. The store didn't have the spiral-bound kind, which was a disappointment, but I was still pretty psyched to get a copy.
Of course the first thing I did was check the beginning to see what the new or altered entries were. Several of the changes were sorely needed. AP just finally got around to acknowledging ATMs, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sacagawea (you wouldn't believe the debates I've had about how to spell her name; there are about five ways to do so), SARS, Scud missiles and Serbia-Montenegro.
The AP has also finally wised up and changed its preference on not guilty/innocent. It had preferred using "innocent" to guard against the word "not" being dropped from "not guilty," which was a pretty silly reason once we stopped manually putting type on the pages.
AP also continues its inconsistent rulings. Under "headquarters," it clearly states that you shouldn't use the word as a verb (e.g. The company is headquartered in New Orleans). But then, as the Associated Press often does, it violates its own rule under the new Humane Society entry, in which it says that the organization is "headquartered" in Washington.
It also still insists on not really embracing some of the world's new-fangled technology. DVD is acceptable on first reference in most stories but should be spelled out somewhere in a story "in which the context may not be familiar to readers." I have no idea in what kind of stories "digital versatile disc" will be more familiar to readers than "DVD," but OK, AP....
Although that's not nearly bad as the entry on VCR, which AP still insists should be called a videocasette recorder the first time you mention it.
That's just ridiculous.
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4 comments:
dear god brian, hopefully parts of this are in your cover letter. what paper could resist you? honestly. :)
I second Christa's comment. No shit - anybody who gets as excited about AP style as you do should be able to have thier pick of any newspaper in the country.
I'm just excited to learn what DVD and VCR stand for. Who knew?!
Okay, Commonbriguy.com. I can't believe you had the nerve to call me a "major geek" when in a discussion of Lost, which we watched communally in your apartment, I said that the island is displaying characteristics similar to the Genesis Project in Start Trek #: The Search for Spock. Let's not have you ever tell me I'm a geek again, nerdboy.
Also, that comment about guilty/non guilty is right on!
R
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