AP Stylebook update

Rio · **Posted:** Fri Jul 19, 2002 10:32 pm

The new AP Stylebook goes on sale in August, and our favorite reference book will have some interesting changes. Among them: AP has changed its spelling of "teenager" to drop the hyphen; and deleted its listing saying that "host" can't be a verb.Good call, guys. Welcome to the 21st century. Now, see what you can do about "work force" and "best seller," two of your other exceptions to Webster's that serve no obvious purpose.Personally, I'll be curious to see if the new Stylebook still refers to "Western Samoa" (the South Pacific island nation dropped the "Western" five years ago), or added a reference to the Girl Scouts' "Daisy Scouts," among other outright gaffes and omissions in the current edition.Here's the link for the E&P story online (you may have to cut and paste a line at a time):http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=90&e=1&cid=90&u=/ep/20020719/en_bpiep/new_ap__stylebook__includes_taliban__mp3s

Guest · **Posted:** Sat Jul 20, 2002 6:45 pm

AP really needs to work on reeling in its hyphen happiness. I'm glad they got rid of the superfluous mark in "teenager," but the only thing consistent in countless other words -- like "fund-raising" is the lack of consistency. But what more do you expect when AP style decisons are made by a cabal of 80-year-old copy-desk hacks who rarely interact with the real world and cast decisions from their self-elevated high thrones in a vacuum of anachronistic sensibilities?

tim · **Posted:** Sat Jul 20, 2002 7:37 pm

I, too, am pleased with the dropped hyphen in teenager. However, I am no fan of host as a verb. Perhaps it is because I work in sports and I see nouns like "birdie" turned into verbs. I know our language changes, but we have to stop those kinds of bastardizations.P.S. For those of you who know nothing about sports, birdie is a golf term. :) <blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Gary Kirchherr:
The new AP Stylebook goes on sale in August, and our favorite reference book will have some interesting changes. Among them: AP has changed its spelling of "teenager" to drop the hyphen; and deleted its listing saying that "host" can't be a verb.Good call, guys. Welcome to the 21st century. Now, see what you can do about "work force" and "best seller," two of your other exceptions to Webster's that serve no obvious purpose.Personally, I'll be curious to see if the new Stylebook still refers to "Western Samoa" (the South Pacific island nation dropped the "Western" five years ago), or added a reference to the Girl Scouts' "Daisy Scouts," among other outright gaffes and omissions in the current edition.Here's the link for the E&P story online (you may have to cut and paste a line at a time):http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&nc id=90&e=1&cid=90&u=/ep/20020719/en_bpiep/new_ap__stylebook__includes_taliban__mp3s<hr></blockquote>[ July 20, 2002: Message edited by: Tim Hathcock ]

Rio · **Posted:** Sat Jul 20, 2002 11:35 pm

The host-as-verb thing used to bother me too, but I've seen too much copy in which rewriting it just to avoid "to host" seems rather, well, anal. I mean, what's the big deal? It's a word that everybody uses and understands. As you said, language changes, not always for the better, but in this case it isn't a big deal, IMHO. <blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Tim Hathcock:
I, too, am pleased with the dropped hyphen in teenager. However, I am no fan of host as a verb. Perhaps it is because I work in sports and I see nouns like "birdie" turned into verbs. I know our language changes, but we have to stop those kinds of bastardizations.P.S. For those of you who know nothing about sports, birdie is a golf term. :) [ July 20, 2002: Message edited by: Tim Hathcock ]<hr></blockquote>

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