The Style Book of The Detroit News Part 14

Don't say _present inc.u.mbent_. _Inc.u.mbent_ means at present in office.

Don't say _old adage_. If it's an adage, it's old.

Don't write _widow woman_, _true facts_, _old veterans_, _the la grippe_, _the hoi polloi_.

Don't say _possibly may_ or _possibly might_. The verb conveys the idea of possibility.

Two words may be discarded generally in the phrase _whether or not_.

Write it: _He doesn't know whether he will go._

Omit the italicized phrase in He was thrown _a distance of_ 50 feet.

Don't write _regular monthly meeting_. If it's monthly, it's _regular_.

If a man is _well known_, it is not necessary to say so.

Omit the adverb in the phrase _totally destroyed_.

Don't write _still persists_. _Still_ is superfluous.

Make it _noon_, not _high noon_.

VITAL STATISTICS

In writing obituaries the reporter must use the greatest care, for it is very easy to offend the family of the subject of the obituary. Avoid the conventional euphemisms.

Prefer:

_body_ to _remains_ _send body_ to _s.h.i.+p body_ _coffin_ to _casket_ _flowers_ to _floral offerings_ _funeral_ to _obsequies_ _widow_ to _wife_ _burial_ to _interment_ _the dead man_ to _deceased_ or _defunct_

Avoid:

_the late_ _late residence_ solemn black__ _sable hea.r.s.e_ _last sad rites_

_Marriage_ is a state. The ceremony is a _wedding_. Don't marry the man _to_ the woman. The woman is always married to the man.

Don't say a marriage was _consummated_.

_Funeral_ means _interment_. Write: _Funeral services were held at the church and burial was in Evergreen Cemetery._

Do not use _heart failure_ for _heart disease_. All persons die because the heart fails to beat.

Write simply, _he died_, and not _pa.s.sed away_, _shuffled off this mortal coil_, _gave up the ghost_, or any similarly amateurish phrase.

There is no occasion for clothing the incident of death in a panoply of words, nor should birth be written of except simply. Do not say, _a little stranger was ushered into a cold world_, but _a child was born_.

In writing of vital statistics--death, birth, marriage--be content to state the facts without unnecessary embellishment. Forget about the stork, the grim reaper, Hymen and Cupid.

A DICTIONARY

Wrote Sir Clifford Allb.u.t.t: "A dictionary 'sanctions' nothing of its contents, but it enables us by consultation of its stores to compare and choose for ourselves. In using this liberty we shall neither be subservient to the prescriptions of age, nor scornful of modern freedom; in every use we shall be guided by historical growth, the example of the best authors, and our present necessities."

+---------------------------------------------+ SCOURGE OF EVIL DOERS ... EXPOSER OF SECRET INIQUITIES ... UNRELENTING FOE OF PRIVILEGE AND CORRUPTION. +---------------------------------------------+

SPELLING

LOOK IT UP IF YOU ARE NOT SURE.

BETTER LOOK IT UP ANYWAY.

If two spellings are given in the dictionary, the first cited is preferable.

Follow these spellings:

_airplane_ _ayes and noes_ _ax_ _base ball_ _basket ball_ _bazar_ _birdseye_ _blond_ (both noun and adjective) _Budapest_ _can not_ _Chile_ (South America) _Chili_ (Africa) _clue_ _decollete_ _dispatch_ _draft_ _drouth_ _Duma_ _employe_ _Eskimo_ _facsimile_ _Filipino_ _foot ball_ _gaily_ _gaiety_ _goodby_ _guarantee_ (verb) _guaranty_ (noun) _Hayti_ _Hindu_ _Khartum_ _kidnaped_ _Korea_ _Leipzig_ _Macaulay's History_ _Mohammed_ _nearby_ _plow_ _Porto Rico_ _repertory_ _Shakespeare_ _Shakespearean_ _skilful_ _technic_ _Tibet_ _today_ _Tolstoy_ _tomorrow_ _Turgenieff_ _tying_ _vilify_ _vying_ _whisky_ _Wilkes-Barre_ _woolly_ _world series_

Write: _Parcel post_, not _parcels post_.

Be sure that proper names are spelled uniformly throughout a story.

Use the form _in_ instead of _en_ in such words as _indorse_, _inclose_.

Write it: _Trade unions_, not _trades unions_.

Use no diphthongs when they can be avoided. Write: _anesthetic_, _esthetic_, _medieval_, _maneuver_, _subpena_, _homeopathic_.

Follow the American spelling on _checks_, _tires_, _curb_, _pajamas_, disregarding the British _cheques_, _tyres_, _kerb_, _pyjamas_.

Make the plural of _Knight Templar_, _Knights Templar_.

Don't add _s_ to: _afterward_, _backward_, _forward_, _toward_.

As a general rule change _-re_ to _-er_ when it is the last syllable, as in _theater_, _caliber_, _timber_.

Beware of _effect_ and _affect_, and use them carefully.

A long _way_, not a long _ways_.

Distinguish between: _depository_ and _depositary_; between _insanitary_ and _unsanitary_; between _immoral_ and _unmoral_; between _councilor_, _consular_ and _counselor_; between _council_ and _counsel_ and _consul_; between _capitol_ and _capital_; between _clamant_ and _claimant_; between _sear_ and _seer_ and _sere_; between _emigrant_ and _immigrant_; between _faker_ and _fakir_; between _breech_ and _breach_; between _auger_ and _augur_; between _h.o.a.rd_ and _horde_; between _lessen_ and _lesson_; between _principle_ and _princ.i.p.al_; between _prophecy_ and _prophesy_; between _advice_ and _advise_; between _maize_ and _maze_; between _site_ and _sight_.

The people of Panama are Panamans, not Panamanians, just as we are Americans, not Americanians.