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Associated Press Stylebook – A to Z Unexpected Rules

The Associated Press Stylebook is the book to reference for many writing professionals. The first AP Stylebook only had 60 pages and was bound with staples. Today, the book has grown to over 450 pages of writing ‘rules’ to follow and can be found in paperback or electronic version.  The stylebook covers the basic rules of grammar, punctuation, usage and journalistic style. It also encompasses changes in the common language, offers guidance on media law, explains the AP rules and helps others to navigate the rapid changing world of social media.

As SEO professionals, bloggers and those in the media industry, we do our best to keep up-to-date with the new changes. We keep a copy of the AP Style book handy in our offices and often reference the book. Since the AP Style book is updated every year, we understand that it is very easy to miss an update.

While many professional rely on the AP Style book to get down to the nitty gritty of their writing and to make certain they are following all of the important rules, I thought I would bring to light an A to Z list of a few unexpected rules. Most of the words listed are for those in the SEO industry, with a couple of random words added, just for fun!

A-     air bag – two words, not one. Do not need to capitalize the A and the B in normal writing, air bag.

B-      Books on Tape – B and T are capitalized because the phrase is a trademark for a brand of audiobooks. A generic term can be used instead, audiotape or audiocassette.

C-      campaign manager – do not treat as a formal title, always lowercase. (See Titles in the AP Style book to learn more.)

D-     domain names– The address used to locate a particular website or reach an email system. (See AP Style book to learn more.)

E-      Emoticon – A typographical cartoon or symbol generally used to indicate mood or appearance, as =D and often looked at sideways. Also known as smileys. Capitalize the E in normal writing.

F-      fleet – Use figures and capitalize fleet when forming a proper name: the 6th Fleet. Lowercase fleet whenever it stands alone.

G-     gigabyte– A unit of storage capacity in a computer system, loosely equal to 1 billion bytes. Abbreviate GB. In normal writing, do not capitalize the G.

H-     hyperlink – A link from one part of a Web page to another page, as an auto shop page to tire brands page.

I-        Internet – A decentralized, worldwide network of computers that can communicate with each other. In later references, the Net is acceptable. (See the AP Style book to learn more.)

J-       Java– A trademark of Oracle Corp. for a computer programming language that can be run on some computer systems and inside Web browsers.

K-      kilobyte-A unite of measure for digital data storage. Use Kb  in abbreviations.

L-       LAN – Acronym for local area network, which links computers within a geographically limited area.

M-   mailmanLetter carrier is preferable because many women hold this job.

N-     nonprofit – it is not hyphenated, lowercase .

O-     OK, OK’d, OK’ing, Oks – Do not use okay.

P-      percent– One word, lowercase, written out.

Q-     Q-tips– A trademark brand of cotton swabs.

R-      RSS– An abbreviation for Really Simple Syndication.

S-      “The Star-Spangled Banner” – But use lowercase for the national anthem.

T-      toward– not towards.

U-     URL– Abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator, an Internet address.

V-     virus, worm– A computer virus is any malicious, invasive program designed to infect and disrupt computers. A worm is a type of virus that spreads on networks such as the Internet, copying itself from one computer to another without human intervention.

W-   Web– short for World Wide Web.

X-      Xmas– Do not use this as an abbreviation for Christmas.

Y-      YouTube – A video-serving network owned by Google Inc.

Z-      zigzag– just like that!