Style points

One thing that challenges me as a copy editor is knowing when to capitalize letters and when to use lowercase. So I took a quick look through the AP Stylebook searching for examples of capitalized terms, and I thought I would share my favorite entry from each letter. Many of these terms have tripped me up in the past, and some we have forgotten to capitalize in recent stories. Please feel free to add to the list or challenge any of the following examples. Most (but not all) of them are taken from the (slightly outdated) 2005 AP Stylebook.

Assembly - when referring to the state legislative body, with or without the state name

Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science - but the more general bachelor's degree is lowercase

Capitol - when referring to the building in Washington, or in Madison, or in any other state capital

Dumpster - a trademark for a large, metal trash bin

Election Day - only capitalize when referring to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November

Ferris wheel

Global Positioning System - also known (on second reference) as GPS

House - when referring to a specific House of Representatives

Internet

Jet Ski - a registered trademark for a type of personal watercraft (but is there a simpler way to say "personal watercraft"?)

Kitty Litter - brand name. (The AP Stylebook suggests "cat box filler" instead)

Legislature - when referring to a specific state legislature, with or without the state name

Mother Nature

National Guard, National Guardsman - also, capitalize Guard when it stands alone in reference to the National Guard (but lowercase guardsman when it stands alone)

Olympics - in all references to the international athletic contests, even Olympic-size pool

Popsicle - trademark for a brand of flavored ice

Quran - the Muslim holy book

Realtor - AP prefers "real estate agent" unless there is a reason to indicate someone is a member of the National Association of Realtors

Social Security (I also like the Styrofoam entry, but Social Security comes up more often.)

T-shirt

Upper Peninsula

Velcro - AP suggests "fabric fastener" instead of the trademark

Web - Web site, Web page (***In contrast, AP recommends webcam, webcast and webmaster.)

X-ray

Yellow Pages - to describe the business telephone directory

ZIP code - (ZIP stands for Zoning Improvement Plan)

~ Elizabeth

On text tricks in InDesign, more

In an effort to keep everyone updated on the weekly design sessions held on Tuesdays at my desk, I'll post the details of these sessions in this blog.

This week I covered specialized text treatments and transparency in the weekly design session.

If you'd like to convert a hunk of text to outlines (this would be useful if you'd like to fill the text with a photo) select the desired text and click the "Type" menu at the top of the screen and drag to "Create outlines." InDesign will lay the outlined text on top of the text in the text box, grouped. Ungroup the text and drag it into the desired location. You can now treat it as you would a picture box, adding a stroke to the border and placing a photo inside word or words.

Transparency is a very easy to use feature in InDesign. Pull up the Transparency palette and lighten up text, photos or whatever to the desired effect. Good for photo illustrations and collages or to accompany features content. A few minutes of experimenting with it and you'll be hooked, and a pro.

Finally, I covered the Multi-edit function in Publicus. This feature works great for adding content to special sections, or making a change to a group of stories. Click the box at the far right of the screen corresponding to the headlines you'd like to change. Click Multi-Edit above the story list and you can change a story's Theme, Taxonomy, Category, Date and more. Work through the options listed in the menu and click save and close when you are finished.

As always, if you have a suggestion for a design session topic, and we'll cover some online stuff weekly too, let me know.

— Brian

Begging for change

Kim in Stevens Point recently commented that the hospital there is Saint Michael's Hospital. (Ministry's Web site says the same thing.)

Considering that we spell out "Saint" in Saint Clare’s and Saint Joseph’s, is there any reason we should not break with our tradition of abbreviating Saint Michael’s?

~Elizabeth

Who's on first?

A question that came up last week:

When do we use a person's last name (after first reference) and when do we use the first name consistently? I know we use first names for children, but where do we draw the line? Do we refer to teens by first of last names? Does their age matter? Should a 13-year-old be a first but a 17-year-old be a last?

Personally, it bothers me when we use first names after first reference for anyone older than 12, but that's just me. Is there a rule on this that I'm not aware of? (If there is, no one on the desk that night knew the answer).

So tell me, who's a first and who's a last?

--Kristy

Two quick questions of usage

1) Suggested by Mr. Multer and myself - seat belt or seatbelt? I think "seat belt," our style guide doesn't disagree with me, the AP Handbook doesn't disagree with me, but the dictionary goes both ways. When I had a story being proofread tonight that was about seat belts, the copy desk was pretty much divided about whether it's one word or two.

2) When using the word "Earth," you capitalize it when referring to the planet and lower-case it when referring to soil or dirt. But I'm a little unclear about saying things like "saving the Earth" or "protecting the Earth." It looks funny capitalized (the "the" throws me off, mostly), but it also looks funny lower case in that situation. Which is it supposed to be?

-Benton

Pop quiz

I enjoyed this quick refresher on subject-verb agreement, and I hope you will, too.


The quiz was created by journalist Pam Nelson of The News & Observer (in North Carolina).

~ Elizabeth

Easy, breezy, beautiful Sunny Vale Park

The name of Sunny Vale Park on Wausau's west side is indeed three words. (Judging from our archives and from at least one street sign, there has been some confusion.) The park sign says "Sunny Vale Park." Near the main park sign, there is a street sign with an arrow pointing toward "Sunnyvale Softball Complex." However, the sign at the softball complex says "Sunny Vale." Google Maps calls the scenic spot "Sun Valley Park," but I think we can trust the Marathon County Web site's recreation page, which lists "Sunny Vale Park."

(In case you're wondering, the water feels nice on a warm, sunny day, but swim at your own risk. And please keep in mind that "glass pets" are prohibited on the beach.)

On a related note, sometimes I'm tempted to drive through Stevens Point looking for Northpoint Drive and/or North Point Drive, as we have printed each version many times. Can someone in Stevens Point clear up my confusion?

Andrew, a former Furniture & ApplianceMart employee, affirms that ApplianceMart is one word. According to company Web sites, Stora Enso is two words (despite a misleading logo), but NewPage is one word. What other names cause confusion around here?

~ Elizabeth