Did you Forget About the AP Stylebook?
I was raised by an English teacher and a photojournalist. Our bookshelves housed a few encyclopedias, a well-worn Merriam-Webster dictionary, and assorted language and grammar guides. My favorite was the thesaurus. By the time I was taking journalism classes in highschool, I was well-acquainted with the Associated Press Stylebook.
Having some basic rules, or standards, is really helpful for those of us writing articles, motion graphics, and graphic design.
Is this word appropriate in this context?
Is it hyphenated?
What’s the acronym for that organization?
Sure, you can “Google it” … but this impulse doesn’t always pay off as we hope. I suspect a lot of people fall into one of these patterns:
- Accept the first result.
- Side-quest!!!
For group #1: You probably have an 80% chance of being correct, and a 5% chance of successfully retracing your steps if the source is called into question later.
For group #2: Thirty minutes have passed. You are deep into some esoteric forum you found on Page Three of the search results. You’re skimming a heated debate about the Oxford Comma, rooting for the underdog on the forum. You don’t know what region, era, or context their opinion is relevant to. You don’t know their credentials. But man, they sound right….
The smart folks from either group will take some time to fact-check or cross-reference, which just means more research. Some of us will collapse from decision-fatigue.
Sometimes you need a “single source of authority.” A book is often the most convenient, immutable, reliable source you can get.
I have an old* copy of the AP Stylebook near my desk, where it’s close enough to grab the book instead of my keyboard.
For those unfamiliar: The AP Stylebook is a reference resource published by The Associated Press. Among other things, my copy contains a list of common words and phrases along with guidelines for how to use them in print. These entries are organized like a dictionary, but instead of definitions, they focus on things like context, rules for capitalization, and abbreviations. The book offers clarity, and it’s remarkably concise.
Last week I was typing up some graphics with organizations like “Something Something Association.” I wasn’t sure of the right way to shorten “Association” (I know one way not to do it) so I flipped open my book. Here’s what my copy of the AP Stylebook says:
“Do not abbreviate.” DONE. That’s good enough for me.
There’s something really refreshing about getting the answer you actually wanted. No pictures. No opinions. No ads. No woefully-inaccurate AI regurgitation of all the above.
Maybe it’s strange to describe a print resource as an exciting offline adventure, but I often get stuck in patterns and have to be reminded of alternative paths.
Unfortunately, I belong to Group #2 described above. I burned another ten minutes reading the adjacent Stylebook entries FOR FUN …
… distractions were not invented by the internet.
*When I say “old”: I have the 1998 edition! My Dad is retired from journalism, and I got his old copy. It’s a cool heirloom. I’m sure there are entire words, phrases, and concepts missing, but for the work I do, it’s not critical. Many of the basic grammar rules are not changing every day.
Your goals or requirements may be different; if your work needs to comply with the most current standards then you’ll certainly want the latest edition.
For most of us, we can go back a few editions and adopt a used copy from the local bookstore or find used copies on Amazon.
Maybe this year I’ll treat myself to an edition from this decade!
Further Reading
Previously: Watercolor Newtons Cradle