WORD TRAPS

Your subs’ table has a well-used English dictionary and a gazetteer of place names because of the need to get words and locations right. Only the foolhardy, however splendid their vocabulary, would do without a dictionary since it gives not only spellings but also meanings. It should be the most up to date containing the very latest shifts and nuances in meaning or, better still, there should be two dictionaries in order to compare definitions even though your computer has a spell-check. The gazetteer, provided it has the latest boundary changes, is the ultimate arbiter where there is doubt or argument over geography. Armed with these authorities you are ready to deal with the words.

The right word

The demands on space, especially in daily papers, mean that there is no room in news stories for a long word where a shorter one can do the job as well. Ten long words excised in a story three column inches long can make room for an extra sentence, which might allow you to bring in another useful fact (see headline words in Chapter 8).

Yet where you substitute words take care to ensure the writer’s meaning has not been changed. The right word is the one that is likely to be instantly known to the reader and that makes the writer’s meaning clear beyond all doubt while at the same time being no longer than it has to be. A general guide is that foreign words should be avoided where there is an adequate English equivalent. It will be found that English words of Anglo-Saxon origin such as house, bite, grip, flight, bold, sharp, bright and evil are shorter than their imported equivalent. Excise words that have more than one meaning with the same spelling, along with abstruse or academic words, circumlocutions and officialese of all types.

Technical words

Finance, computers, space, weaponry, sociology – these are just some of the areas of science and commerce that have developed their own vocabularies. Many words from these areas that are accepted in specialist publications would mean little to the general newspaper reader.

Technical words should be introduced sparingly on the news pages and only in contexts where their meanings are clear. Yet in each of the special areas just listed, and in other similar ones, there are words that have begun infiltrating the

general vocabulary to win growing acceptance among readers. The space programme has provided lift-off, splashdown and hardware (a new use for an old word now meaning the machines and equipment). Economics has provided upturn, downturn and throughput; industry, blueprint, bottleneck and spin-off; the Forces bombshell, blockbuster and broadside. The examples could be multiplied: image, model, reading, programme, strategy, ceiling and target have all taken on new meanings through their use in technical fields.

Should such new words and new uses for old words be accepted? Certainly, if the context makes their use clear and they extend the meaning of the text for the reader better than any other word. Bottleneck, blueprint, blockbuster and spin-off, for instance, are colourful, metaphorical and almost ‘visual’ words that project an immediate mental image; but guard against applying them to situations where they are not justified. Is a plan really detailed and precise enough to be called a blueprint? Is a new book or film really a blockbuster in the effect it will have on the public; are such words becoming stereotypes to be reached for from the shelf out of laziness? Are they in danger of and sinking into clichés?

Beware also of using too many at once. A piece of writing peppered with downturns, upturns, spin-offs, lift-offs and ‘go’ situations has descended into jargon.

Foreign words

There is little point in using foreign words that have obvious English equivalents such as: rendezvous (arranged meeting), carte blanche (blank cheque, free hand), melee (mix-up, skirmish), cul-de-sac (blind alley, close), ad infinitum (indefinitely) and per annum (yearly). The following words of foreign origin are more generally acceptable on the ground that they are not easy to substitute:

ad lib	cortège	fiancé
aide	coupé	fiancée
aperitif	crime passionel	negligée
attaché	debut	nuance
blasé	de facto	premiere
bourgeois	de jure	protegé
brochure	elite	regime
carafe	entrée	repertoire
cliché	exposé	status quo
clientele	facade	sub judice
corsage	fait accompli	venue

Circumlocutions

Journalists with any experience are not given to using long-winded phrases. Many circumlocutions (strictly bundles of words) that grammars warn against are speech props such as ‘as I stand here before you today’ or ‘in this day and age’ or ‘to all intents and purposes’, or are examples of officialese. A subeditor, while ever vigilant, would not normally expect to encounter such phrases in written copy, although some might enter via quotations, particularly from tape-recorded material. Some quaintness of phrase is reasonable in quoted speech to preserve the flavour of the speaker’s words, but take out the really space-wasting ones. Their loss will not damage the meaning.

Nevertheless, because of their lulling familiarity, some circumlocutions can tempt even subeditors into a trap. Here are some examples, with the recommended usage on the right:

adjacent to	near
prior to	before
as yet	yet
as a result of	because
in consequence of	because
currently	now
at this moment	now, today
as to whether	whether
he is a man who	he
in order to	to
tighten up	tighten
fill up	fill
in the first instance	first
owing to the fact that	because
sound out	sound
check out	check
rest up	rest
try out	try
start up	start
meet up with	meet
meet with	meet
consult with	consult
inside of	inside
he himself	he
personally, I	I
all of	all
end result	end or result
at the back of	behind
in front of	before
at the side of	beside
join together	join
in terms of	as
acid test	test
each and every	each
extra special	special
face up to	face
horns of a dilemma	dilemma
out and about	out or about
true facts	facts
absolute truth, lies etc.	truth, lies, etc.

Synonyms

To avoid long words or repetition of words within a sentence or paragraph, or when seeking words for a headline with a limited type count, the subeditor searches for the alternative or shorter word that means the same. Beware here of the word that means almost the same but not quite. The main danger of this lies in headline writing (see Chapter 8) but meanings are at risk in the text too.

To say that a man claimed or that he asserted is not the same as saying he said. A change of verb for the way in which things are said can give undesirable colour or emotion to a speaker’s words. To call a discussion or an exchange of words a row invests it with a suggestion of violence. An alibi is not the same as an excuse.

Study not only the spelling and number of letters in the synonym you choose but its precise meaning.

Clichés

The term cliché is given to a wide range of hackneyed expressions, over-used phrases, tired adjectives, worn-out metaphors and current vogue words. Any word or combination of words if used excessively, is in danger of becoming a cliché.

Under this general umbrella are a lot of words and phrases that are unlikely come your way since they remain in the limbo of their own environment. They are part of the jargon of their field and consist of what, by newspaper standards, are tedious circumlocutions. Commerce has its own special ones: ‘in this connection’, ‘for your information’, ‘it is considered that’, ‘at the end of the day’ and ‘somewhere down the line.’ Everyday conversation has its own matching verbal props: ‘as I was saying,’ ‘if you see what I mean,’t mean to say,’ and so on.

The danger of contamination from these sources is instilled into young journalists at the start. What is sometimes not instilled is the danger from journalism’s own shifting world of clichés. Keith Waterhouse, in his book Daily Mirror Style, pointed out the changing fashion in newspaper clichés, some of them drawn from popular lore, others entirely invented by subeditors.

In the 1950s and 1960s the favourites (some still with us) were:

burning issue	dropped a clanger
cheer to the echo	and that’s official
clutches of the law	the absolute gen
crying need	speculation was rife
fast and loose	monotonous regularity
red letter day	last but not least
just like the blitz	out and about

By the 1980s and 1990s a new raciness had begun to imbue clichés:

alive and well and	pinta
Billy Bunters	cuppa
fashion stakes	taken to the cleaners
knickers in a twist	fairytale wedding
purr-fect (of cats)	sweet smell of success
clown prince	the end of the road
writing on the wall	sir (of teachers)
love child, nest etc.	wait for it!
don’t all rush!	to zero in
tears of joy	the name of the game
using your loaf	what it’s all about

Commentators have good chortle when they point these out in writing about press style, yet there is, in my view, a case to be made out for the cliché in certain controlled circumstances. A journalist writing for a popular readership can use the newspaper cliché, like its relation the proverb, as a way of addressing the reader in familiar terms, provided:

1  It is not wastefully wordy.

2  It does not gloss or misrepresent the facts.

3  It is not used too frequently.

To refer to Billy Bunters in a piece about overweight schoolboys, or to a love child for a baby born out of wedlock, or to knickers in a twist in a funny story about charwomen, can strike a rapport with the readers of a popular daily where words like obese, bastard and muddle-headed might fail.

The term fairytale wedding, provided it does not exaggerate the nuptial splendour, conjures up an instant picture to the reader which any other two words would find it hard to equal. ‘The sweet smell of success’ and ‘the writing on the wall’ can sum up particular human situations evocatively, provided they also sum up what is in the text.

It falls to you, the sub, to decide when a cliché is justified. In fact, there are clichés and clichés. It is the more specifically subeditors’ gimmicks such as ‘Don’t all rush’ or ‘Wait for it’, purr-feet (in cat stories), pinta for milk and cuppa for tea that become most tedious by repetition.

In dealing with writers’ favourite metaphors, beware of mixed ones, as in ‘She was an angel of mercy pouring oil on troubled waters,’ or ‘He preferred to paddle his own canoe and cock a snook at authority.’

Over-used adjectives are particularly objectionable in a language as rich as English. Stunning, staggering, sexy, super, sizzling, terrific, luscious and amazing should be consigned unmourned to the waste bin along with superstar, megastar, zap! and phew!

Phew!

Vogue words

Writers on the use of English generally devote some space to what they scornfully call vogue words. These are words or new uses for words which have taken the fancy of speakers and writers and are being used a lot. It is difficult to generalize about them. Some, like parameters and arguably have a lulling polysyllabic charm for speakers with academic pretensions. Others, like clinical, interface and syndrome have a scientific ring about them which makes the speaker or user feel up to date. Some are useful and new ways of saying things without the need for lots of words, and appeal to the busy. Some seem to have no justification at all.

What should you do when encountering such words? The best advice is to accept them and use them where they help clarify a meaning and communicate a point of view to the reader, but (unless they are claimed as sacrosanct by a prestigious by-liner) do not allow them where a simpler or more direct, or more accurate, word would be better.

You should look for the nuances of meaning that new words bring, accepting them as a broadening of the language rather than a restricting of it. You should be certain, however, about what they mean. If there is any doubt or ambiguity about their use, leave them alone until the grammarians have sorted them out. And pounce on them if the context shows they have been wrongly used.

Here are some examples of current vogue words, one or two of which will be found usefully deployed in the text of this book. They should be treated on their merits. Some could be the Queen’s English of tomorrow.

Accord	Agreement. Began popular life as a headline variant. Not much justification for it in the text.
Aggravate	Has subtly added to its meaning to annoy or cause trouble as well as to make worse. The usage dates back to its vogue in the abbreviated form aggro during the Teddy boy period in the 1950s and 1960s – hard to reverse a trend like this; best left to quoted speech.
Ambience	Once an encompassing circle or sphere, now an aura or atmosphere. Useful for descriptive writers but not a good word in a hard news story.
Arguably	‘Capable of being argued as’ but mostly wrongly used as ‘more likely to be’ or ‘almost certain to be.’ A perfectly good word that has become astonishingly popular in its wrong use. It deserves a rest.
Axiomatic	Used to be used only in scientific proofs; now in vogue as conferring certainty on a statement or conclusion on the lines of ‘it goes without saying.’ A silly misuse.
Basically	A tiresome prop with which to begin an explanation, often used by the less-than-articulate. Very expendable.
Charisma	Formerly a unique or God-given grace or talent. More recently a special quality or aura displayed by someone. An overused word, but there is no other that says precisely this.
Chauvinism	Exaggerated and bellicose patriotism; now adapted to mean glorification of the sex – i.e. male chauvinism – and seems to have taken root. It is doing no harm used with the word ‘male’ and describes an attitude that is recognizable.
Clinical	Pertaining to the sick bed (as of clinics). Has mysteriously come to mean coldly and detachedly (as in action). Best avoided.
Concept	Used a lot where the word idea used to be used. Has pseudoscientific ring. Use idea – it is shorter and is mostly what the writer means.
Contact	A useful noun-verb when one is not certain of means or method. Better, if possible, to say meet, telephone, write or call on.
Criteria	Necessary requirements upon which a judgement or decision is based. There seems to be a lot of criteria about these days but the word mostly does a good job.
Dialogue	A vogue word from the international political scene. Strictly it is between two people or sides and is wrongly but widely used for general discussions, meetings, talks etc.; could do with being aired less.
Ecology	Has taken over in some quarters from environment, meaning the natural world in which we live. It is stretched to mean anything which is natural as opposed to man-made, although originally it meant simply the branch of biology which dealt with the relationship of plants and animals to their surroundings. No stopping this one.
Escalation	Another bastard from the international political and war scene. Developed in the post-war decades as a back formation from escalator, a moving staircase. It means to increase or develop by successive stages. The world’s trouble spots are keeping it well employed and it has carved a patch for itself.
Fruition	Plans everywhere are coming to fruition, yet the word has nothing to do with fruit or bearing fruit but means the act of enjoyment or pleasurable possession.
Hopefully	It means ‘with hope’ but is now worked to death meaning ‘it is hoped that’ or I hope so.’ Should be given a rest along with its soulmate arguably.
Image	Not so much a copy of an original as a special highly glossed version to present to the public; more a facade than a copy. But everyone who is anyone seems to have one – or to need one.
Interface	A surface separating two portions of matter or space. Became in the 1960s a region or piece of equipment where interaction occurs between two systems. More loosely it has come to mean any form of joining together. Treat with caution.
Line	A particular type of argument or set of explanations – e.g. the Marxist-Leninist line (that was), or whatever line adopted. Argument is more descriptive, and preferred, despite being longer. Also, line is…well…discredited.
Maximize	Meaning to work or pursue something to the maximum degree possible or feasible, has come to stay. Although one of the prolific new ‘ize’ verbs it is pithy and colourful and says it in a word.
Meaningful	A much used invention of recent decades meaning full of or replete with meaning. I can’t bring myself to condemn it since it does a job – but beware of overuse. Just a whisker and we’ ll have meaningfulness.
Minimize	Handy – as with maximize.
Mix	A useful adman’s word meaning the sum total of all the various ingredients. An insinuatingly useful word which has the extreme advantage of brevity.
Normalize	Means to cause to return to normal – akin to regularize. These are handy verbs although too many of them on a page can cast a blight.
Ongoing	Very popular for continuing or never-ending. It has its uses but is often used unnecessarily like a verbal prop.
Parameters	Queen of the vogue words. A scientific expression meaning qualities or factors which has caught on as a synonym for limits or boundaries. There seems little need for it in the context in which it is usually used.
Prestigious	Having or manifesting prestige (it formerly meant practising juggling or cheating). It is now cheerfully bestowed on people, jobs, property, business and sites. If only it were used a little less…though it is clear there is a lot of prestige about.
Proliferation	The endless development, formation and spread of things, is a useful word which does a job. One can live with its popularity.
Scenario	A scriptwriter’s word which describes something more detailed than just a scene. Is sometimes the right word but is too exotic to stand much use.
Situation	We are surrounded by situations. Every decision, development, spending programme, injection of funds, order and cancellation depends on a situation. There are go situations, no-go situations, stop situations, study situations, new situations, bad situations, ongoing situations – too many situations of every sort. Even situations vacant are commoner than they were. Blame the politicians and the economists for a word that’s become a canker.
Spectrum	A pseudo-scientific word for range, which is preferable.
Symbiosis	A withdrawn cult word used a lot by those who think they know what it means. Strictly: living or involved together in mutual support. One for newspapers to leave alone.
Syndrome	A set of concurrent things or symptoms, now used for may conditions of the body, mind and imagination. Has become generally accepted, and puts things in a nutshell even if there are more syndromes about than we thought possible.
Thematic	Having, or pertaining, to a theme (of art forms, philosophies, systems, musical movements, instructions etc.). A useful descriptive word that earns its keep.
Thrust	As of an argument or explanation. A nice phallic word much favoured by aware males. Does a job.
To host	Meaning to preside over, or sponsor, an invited gathering (of friends, visiting heads of state, knitting association delegates, etc.). An Americanism that has become acceptable.
Traumatic	It once meant pertaining to, or caused by, injury or shock but is often used instead of dramatic. Though it hardly deserves to, it sounds good. It really should suggest an element of shock, however.
Trendy	Used for things that are going to be ‘the thing’ or, these days, that were recently ‘the thing’. A discredited word.
Update	As a verb or noun is a useful technical addition to the general vocabulary. It is brief and precise and no other word seems to mean quite this.

Misused words

A more general danger is a newspaper’s misuse of words because of popular misconceptions about them that have stuck and have evaded the writer or subeditor. For instance chronic, in the case of illness, means lingering though not necessarily severe. Buildings that catch fire are not razed to the ground but simply razed. People are not exonerated from blame but exonerated; while in spending programmes and budgets targets are there to be hit and not exceeded, and ceilings are to set limits and not to be smashed.

Here is a list of words commonly misused or misunderstood which subs should look out for in editing text:

Alibi	Latin for elsewhere. To offer an alibi is to explain that one was elsewhere at the time. Not to be used for excuse in general.
All right	Spell as two words, not alright, except in slang text.
Alternative	Every other. Not to be confused with alternatively – offering one of two possibilities.
Among	Used where there are more than two people or things. Not to be confused with between, which distinguishes between two people or things.
Anticipate	Should not be used for expect. It is not the same.
Appraise	To form a judgement about something. Not to be confused with apprise, to inform.
Apprise	See appraise.
Avoid	To have nothing to do with. Not be confused with avert, to turn away from. You avert trouble by avoiding its likely cause.
Beg the question	Not to evade a straight answer, but to give an answer based upon an unproved or unacceptable assumption.
Between	See among.
Can	Not to be used for may. Can means able to, may means allowed to or permitted to, or has a chance or a possibility of doing. Differentiate between ‘you can do it,’ and ‘you may do it.’
Claimed	Not an accurate substitute for said, stated or declared. It suggests an element of dispute about what is being said or stated.
Compare to	To liken one thing to another.
Compare with	To note resemblances and differences between two things.
Consensus	Not concensus.
Credence	Means belief or trust. Credibility is the quality of being believable. Credulity is readiness to believe.
Credibility	See credence.
Credulity	See credence.
Declared	More precise and emphatic than said. See claimed.
Different	From, not to or than.
Dilemma	A choice between two alternatives. Not to be used in general for difficulty of choice, or for weighing up a situation or problem.
Discomfit	Means to overwhelm, to defeat, to disconcert. Do not confuse with discomfort, lacking comfort.
Disinterested	Means not tempered by personal interest. Do not confuse with uninterested, without interest in.
Dissociate	Preferable to disassociate, not to associate with.
Due to	Should not be used in the place of because, as in ‘he was delayed due to the weather.’ Leave due to to phrases including ‘the respect due to…’ etc.
Economic	Was tight, sparing, careful, but now mostly associated with the (country’ s) economy or political economy.
Economical	Relating to economics.
Farther	Of distance (see further).
Fewer than	Of numbers. Do not confuse with less than, of quantity.
First	Say first, second, third, not firstly, secondly, thirdly etc.
Fix	Vague as a verb. Where possible use arrange, attach, organize, set up, etc.
Following	Do not use instead of after or as a result of. It is less precise.
Forensic	Simply means pertaining to words of law – nothing more.
Forgo	To abstain from. Do not confuse with forego, to precede.
Forego	See forgo.
Forward	Not usually forwards. The s is mostly dropped from homeward, backward and sideward but is retained in towards.
Further	Of time or degree. See farther (of distance).
Hanged	Criminals are hanged. Things are hung.
Happened	Without warning, as in occurred. Took place suggests planning.
Historic	Part of history.
Historical i.e.	Concerned with historical events or records. From the Latin id est (that is) and should be used to introduce a definition; e.g., exempli gratia (for the sake of example), should be used to adduce an example.
i.e.	From the Latin id est (that is) and should be used to introduce a definition; e.g., exempli gratia (for the sake of example), should be used to adduce an example.
Imply	To suggest without stating directly. Do not confuse with infer, to deduce or draw a conclusion from.
Infer	See imply.
Insure	To provide for damages or replacement in the event of loss. Do not confuse with ensure, to make certain, to guarantee.
Last	Of more than two things.
Latter	Of two things.
Leading question	Not a question that is difficult to answer, but a question that is so designed that the answer is suggested.
Lend	More correct that to loan, which is an obsolete Old English verb that has come back to enjoy a vogue in the US.
Lengthy	Long is mostly better (and shorter).
Less than	See fewer than.
Leave	Do not misuse for let. Say ‘let it be.’
Loth, loath	This adjective, meaning unwilling, is correct in both spellings but is best spelt without the a to differentiate it from loathe, meaning to detest.
Militate	See mitigate.
Mitigate	To make less severe or serious. Do not confuse with militate, to be directed against or fight against.
Nice	Too vague a word now that it has lost its old meaning of fine, balanced. Use a more precise adjective.
Practical	Useful in practice.
Practicable	Capable of being carried out.
Practically	Has come to mean virtually. Better to use virtually, which has only one meaning, or almost, which is shorter and simpler.
Protagonist	Means advocate or champion and not necessarily the opposite of antagonist.
Refute	Means to prove wrong, not to deny or repudiate.
Resource,	A source of much muddle. Resource is a stock or reserve to
recourse,	draw upon. To have recourse is to return to or fall back upon
resort	(one’s resources). Resort, in this area of meanings, is a place, or thing or person upon which one depends for a solution: ‘A royal pardon was his last resort.’
Respective	Pertaining to those in question – an adjective of which respectively is the adverb. ‘The respective authors,’ but ‘the authors were, respectively, etc.’
Seasonable	Suitable for the season or time of the year.
Seasonal	Occurring in association with a particular season. ‘Hot weather is seasonable in the summer’ but ‘most holiday work is seasonal.’
Stated	More fully covered than said (as of a statement), not so emphatic as declared.
Took place	See happened.
Transpire	Became known – not happened or occurred.
Try	Try to, not try and.
Under way	Beginning to move. Formerly under weigh (anchor).
Unique	Avoid quite, most or rather unique. There can be no degrees of uniqueness.
Verdict	The finding of a jury. The judge gives the decision and sentence.
Whence	‘She returned whence she came,’ not from whence.
Wise	Tax-wise, price-wise etc. are mostly and preferably avoided.

House style

In handling text, you need to be familiar with the house style of your newspaper in order to avoid textual inconsistency in spelling, numeration, the use of abbreviations, the Anglicizing of foreign words and in other areas where alternative uses exist. Most newspapers, having opted for particular ways of doing things, guard their house style as zealously as their typographical style and can come down heavily on its neglect. Subs are expected to prevent style faults getting into the paper.

You can resolve style problems by adopting recommended uses in such works as Collins’s Authors’ and Printers’ Dictionary or Hart’s Rules For Compositors and Readers. Some newspapers opt for the shorter or more contemporary or more ‘English’ of any given alternatives, while others go for etymological exactness (with its risk of pedantry) or follow a style because it has always been the style. Whatever the reason, here are some areas where newly trained subs should reach for the house style sheet when in doubt:

Spellings

Inquire! enquire	Authorities who try to prove these words meandifferent things are nit-picking.
Gaol/jail	The old Norman French legal word is giving way to the more modern jail.
Connection/connexion	The new connection is ousting the old English form.
Despatch/dispatch	It’s commoner with the i.
Marquis/marquess	uis preferred.
Gipsy/gypsy	Both forms remain popular.
Judgment/judgement	The e is losing ground.
Swop/swap	The a version is growing in favour.
Transatlantic	The medial cap A is seldom used.

The use of ize endings in such words as organize and nationalize as against ise for merchandise, advertise, etc. (despite the advocacy of the Oxford English Dictionary and the Authors’ and Printers’ Dictionary) is losing ground and ise is appearing in all cases. The differentiation was never popular in newspapers. It is still used in some publishing houses – and in the text of this book.

American words

The use of American spelling is generally discouraged in English newspapers even in quotes from documents. Subs handling American-originated copy should see that railroad is railway, that a car fender becomes a bumper, and that specialty becomes speciality. Beware the use of the word subway. Color, honor, rigor, glamor etc. should have their u restored, and defense should read defence.

Yet peddler is often used in place of the English pedlar where drug peddling is the subject, and program is here to stay in computer contexts.

Foreign names

Wide variation exists in the spelling of foreign names, with Russian composers coming up in particularly bizarre forms. Tchaikovsky can be Chaikovski and Scriabin Skryabin. Peking (or Pekin) has become Beijing, while Hankow can turn up as Quanzhou.

More simply, Capetown and Hongkong can be Cape Town and Hong Kong. Then there are Baghdad (Bagdad), Irak (Irak), Tokyo (Tokio), Tehran (Teheran), Khartum (Khartoum), Bucharest (Bucarest) and Rumania (Romania, Roumania).

Capital letters

In the eighteenth and even nineteenth century capital letters littered writing to denote qualities, word stress, people’s titles and specific references to things. Now they are the exception. The Prince or the Duke is used where a specific person has been introduced by name and continues to be referred to, and where the title is part of the name. A capital is not used where the word is simply the rank or appointment, as in judge, chairman, secretary, chief engineer, etc. A country’s President takes a capital P. Some papers use capitals when they introduce an important official for the first time, as in ‘Trevor Griffiths, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers’, thereafter referring to him as Mr Griffiths. The Royal Family is usually capitalized but other uses of the word royal are kept in lower case.

The seasons can be capitalized or lower case according to house style, specific areas like the North, the West Country, etc capitalized but points of the compass usually not. The Government takes a capital G but government in general lower case. Left-wing or Right-wing, or simply the Left and the Right, are capitalized to show political meaning.

Capitals used in abbreviations are appearing more without points, as in UK, BBC, EEC, and IBM, but U.S. takes points so that it does not mean us. Acronyms (combinations of initials pronounced as words) take no points and are usually given in lower case as in Unesco, Mensa and Nato.

Names

The usual style is ‘John Jones, aged 20’ but sometimes the aged is missed out. Street names are occasionally hyphenated as in 25 Church Street, Norwich, although house numbers are often dropped to save people being pestered. A danger, however, is that there may be two people of the same name in the street. People are referred to after the first mention as Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms, or in some human interest stories by Christian name. In criminal court cases the style is usually by surname only.

Numbers

Most newspaper style sheets give one to ten in letters and eleven upwards in figures. Fractions can be an exception, 5½ looking better than five-and-a-half. Figures are always used for mathematical formulae and percentages. Sentences should never begin with a number in figures: ‘Three hundred years ago, a leading poet…’ is better (see Chapter 7).

With dates, many style sheets go for the day, month, year order – 23 December, 1998, but some have the month first. Inclusive dates are best rendered 1998-9, 1915-16 rather than changing just the last digit.

With money, amounts are usually rounded down in headlines and intros, £507 becoming £500, and with an m used for million in headlines, as in £35m, with £35 million preferred in copy to £35,000,000. Figures are used in text where more precise amounts or numbers are required. In smaller, say, £49.07, but in 49p use the p.

Editor’s phobias

Every style sheet has them. Few editors will tolerate kiddie, hubby and doggy.

An overused headline word is sometimes put under total interdict. For years the word sex was banned in the News of the World.

Cyphers

The ampersand & is little used in newspapers despite its brevity. Accents are mostly missed out and the dollar sign $ is not always in the type range. Percentage signs % tend more and more to be written as pc or per cent.

Abbreviations

Most capital letter abbreviations are written without full points, with acronyms in lower case after the initial capital (see above). In the case of common abbreviated titles as in Prof., Mr and Dr, many style sheets leave off the point if the last letter of the word is included. Headline abbreviations carry no points unless the meaning is in doubt without them. Give organizations in full at first mention so that the abbreviation thereafter is understood. In long texts it is useful to repeat the full name, even in a shortened form, to refresh the reader’s memory.

With ranks there is wide divergence, as in Lieut-Cdr (Lt-Cdr), Flt-Lieut (F/Lt), Lieut-Col (Lt-Col), Con. (PC), Corpl (Cpl), etc. You need to study the house style sheet. Check the use of county abbreviations such as Beds., Berks., Bucks, Oxon. and Salop, and also abbreviations for the months such as Aug. Sept. and Nov.

Weights and measurements, where giving precise amounts, are usually abbreviated thus: 10 kg, 4 lb, 6 fl oz and are not pluralized with a final s or given a full point. If written out in full, as in five kilograms, the normal plural s applies.

Writers should never use time-saving abbreviations such as aftn (afternoon), btwn (between), yesty (yesterday), mng (morning) or chmn (chairman) in keyboarding in case the subs miss them and they turn up like that in the paper.

Typographical style

It is necessary to be consistent in the text in the rendering of book and film titles, quoted verse, the names of newspapers and popular songs, and the style and title of MPs, church dignitaries, and so on. Some newspapers give all titles of songs, books and newspapers in italic. Others give them with initial caps. Song titles are sometimes quoted. Check the use of quoted line-set verse with the type style card. MPs can be given as John Jones (Con, Glamorgan South) in a political report, but as John Jones, Conservative MP for Glamorgan South in other contexts. Check style and titles of church dignitaries in reference works if they are not given in the style sheet.

Each newspaper has its regular style for setting tabulated work such as television programmes, racing programmes and election results, which should be followed. Look out for simple formatted setting codes in these areas. Some newspapers use page-ready setting input from agencies for this sort of material.

Trade names

Many firms take umbrage if the names of their products are used as generic names without capital letters. Angry complaints received on this subject have resulted in all newspaper offices having lists of trade names with their general equivalents either as part of house style or listed separately. These have to be learned. Some well-known examples include:

Hoover	vacuum cleaner
Kleenex	paper tissues
Fibreglass	glass fibre
Thermos flask	vacuum flask
Biro	ball-point pen
Elastoplast	tape dressing
Oxo	beef or chicken cubes
Nylon/Terylene	artificial (man-made) fibre
Martini	vermouth

Journalese

How do you recognize journalese? By its words. It is a debasement of the language caused by the stereotyped short words and short-cut phraseology used in headline writing infiltrating the text.

Words that are tolerable in headlines because of the difficulties of character count and the need for visual balance should be examined closely before they are used in the text. Here the need is for precision if meaning is to be conveyed. The explanation and justification of facts, upon which the headline leans, cannot be put at risk by ambiguous jargon words, however well these might have served their purpose in drawing the story to the reader’s attention.

While the short word ‘boss’, for example, might get you out of a difficulty in a headline, it is a noun that must be clarified and taken a stage further in the text as manager, supervisee general secretary, chairman, or what-ever. ‘Boss’ is simply verbal shorthand.

The words ‘rap’ or ‘row’ in a headline might suggest criticism or disagreement but they do not have the precision the text requires if the story is to mean anything to the reader. To be ‘axed’ or ‘probed’ in a headline might put across the general idea of what happened (if there is no time to write a better heading) but the text has to back up these words with clearer, more precise ones.

Words of this sort are used in headlines not just because they are short but because they can fit a variety of stories in which more specific descriptions are too long to be accommodated, and sometimes because there is little time to the page deadline. It is this lack of precision (apart from the fact that they have become headline jargon) which limits their usefulness in the text. The fault with journalese, in fact, is not just its mind-lulling jargon but its vagueness.

We have noted elsewhere that words used in news language are rooted in everyday speech, even though the grammatical structure and thought and fact sequence are not. As a useful test of a piece of edited news try mouthing it silently to judge by its ‘sound’ if the words used are real demotic words or just chunks of your newspaper’s home-produced headline jargon..

Would a neighbour say to you, I hear cops have quizzed Jones following a cash probe at the superstore he’s just quit,’ and would you reply,

‘Yes, and I hear he’s quit home in a night drama after a big rap from his wife’?

A final word for subs on this depressing subject: Winkle out journalese if it appears in any reporter’s copy – and do not be guilty of it yourself.