AP focuses on sports, food, science in stylebook changes
If you use AP style, you no longer have to explain what a BLT is on first reference, but also make sure not to call a sports team’s loss a ‘disaster.’
For word nerds everywhere (this author included) the yearly additions to the Associated Press Stylebook are always met with great intrigue. This year is no exception, though the changes aren’t exactly mind blowing.
We’ll share some of the highlights for this year’s edition.
First, some sports updates:
Updates to the Sports chapter: baseball playoffs, basketball’s NCAA Tournament, O-line and D-line in football, horse racing. #aces2015
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) March 27, 2015
There’s also a welcomed 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.
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