Below is a preview of some of the changes (to the sports and social media categories) coming to the 2015 edition of The Associated Press Stylebook. The new edition will be out in late May. There also are some tips for word and phrase usages, provided as reminders.
This year’s stylebook has 300 new or revised terms, and changes are made from studying usage and an annual survey.
In a recent article on
poynter.org explaining some of the changes, AP Stylebook co-editor David Minthorn noted that “We don’t normally make style. We reflect usage, in our view. We’re not trying to get ahead of the game. When we make a change, almost always it reflects the reality of language use and what’s happening in vernacular speech or idiomatic speech or in the case of social media, popular social media terms that are having an impact.”
Sports terms/reference and usage changes
• Elite Eight and Final Four are now capitalized.
• It's the Final Four (uppercase) for the teams in the national semifinals of the NCAA Tournament:
• Figure skating jumps, moves and spins are all lower case, “even if named after someone.”
• Paragraph on avoiding sports clichés: A team losing a game is not a ‘disaster.’ Home runs are homers, not ‘dingers,’ ‘jacks’ or ‘bombs.’ A player scored 10 straight points, not 10 ‘unanswered’ points. If a football team scores two touchdowns and the opponent doesn't come back, say it ‘never trailed’ rather than ‘never looked back.’ In short, avoid hackneyed words and phrases, redundancies and exaggerations.
• When describing injuries, ACL is acceptable in all references for the anterior cruciate ligament.
• Refer to O-line and D-line in football,
Social media: ‘Favorite’ and ‘meme’ have been added:
• “Favorite: A button that a Twitter user can click to express approval for a tweet, and/or to bookmark that tweet, and any associated links, for later consumption. Also, the act of clicking on this button.”
• “Meme: A piece of information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that’s shared verbally or transmitted widely, often in social media.”
• Stick with lowercase for tweet, retweet, pin, snap, subreddit, like, follow, friend, etc.
• Never edit a quote for a tweet. And it's generally better to paraphrase than to use a quote fragment.
• Tip: Try to tweet sentences rather than headlines. It's more conversational and encourages engagement.
• Tip: If you mean at, say "at." The @ is part of the handle; it can't do double-duty as a word in the tweet.
• "Live stream" is the preferred term for what appears to be the noun version of the phrase. What about usage as a verb? "The app allows people to live-stream anything." Use hyphenated "live-stream" in this case. Live-stream is often hyphenated in verb usages.
Also: Reminders about March Madness, other sports terms
The AP compiled a list of essential basketball words, phrases and definitions for coverage of the NCAA Tournament. Guidelines in the AP Stylebook:
http://www.apstylebook.com/.
(Note; Subscription needed.) Others are in common usage in AP news stories.
All-America, All-American
The Associated Press recognizes only one All-America team chosen each year by the AP.
March Madness
Capitalized in all references to the yearly college basketball championships for men and women.
NCAA Tournament
Both terms are capitalized.
Numerals
In general, spell out one through nine in most uses and use figures for 10 or above.
Record
Avoid the redundant new record. Correct: The team won 33 games to set a conference record.
Titles
Job descriptions, team positions and informal titles are lowercase; coach John Calipari. Some other information titles spelled lowercase: captain, manager, athletic trainer.
postseason, preseason
No hyphen.
Football numbers:
Use figures for yardage: The 5-yard line, the 10-yard line, a 5-yard pass play, he plunged in from the 2, he ran 6 yards, a 7-yard gain. But: a fourth-and-two play. The final score was 21-14. The team won its fourth game in 10 starts.
Golf numbers:
Use figures for handicaps: He has a 3 handicap; a 3-handicap golfer, a handicap of 3 strokes; a 3-stroke handicap. Use figures for par listings: He had a par 5 to finish 2-up for the round, a par-4 hole; a 7-under-par 64, the par-3 seventh hole. The first hole, the ninth hole, a nine-hole course, the 10th hole, the back nine, the final 18.