One of the things we do at Bolder Media Group is create and maintain social networking platforms, as well as train community managers. As unofficial style guide gurus, my friend and colleague Jackie and I are waging a two-woman war against bad grammar and poor styling.
Um, excuse me? You said i.e. when you meant e.g.
In order to stay on top of all the latest grammar trends, I spend quite a bit of time on the following websites (that last word pained me to type, and you’ll see why in a moment):
- Apostrophe Abuse
- The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks
- Terribly Write
- Passive Aggressive Notes
I also take pictures of mistakes that I see in stores and publish them to teach the miscreants a lesson (remember the Publix incident?):
Yeah…I see that sign in my nightmares.
So, when Jackie showed me this tweet from APStyleBook:
I about fell off my chair. I mean, I have spent years changing website to Web site, across ALL of our client sites, in news releases, presentations and on all official documents. I have gently explained that because we follow the AP Style Guide, Internet is capitalized, the serial comma is not used and the period goes inside the quotation marks.
What is a grammar slammer to do now?
It turns out, I’m not alone in stressing out. Stuff Journalists Like waxed poetic about the change here, Mashable approved it here, Poynter Online talked about the overall effect here and Slate looked into the process of changing the guide here. Heck, that innocent tweet from APStyleBook led to a trending hashtag as people all over the Web debated the merits of the change.
So, what can we do? What should we do? I think I’ll start making the change from here forward, and fix previous cases of Web site as I come across them. I’ll probably send a quick e-mail out to my clients, letting them know about the change…and I’ll just embrace AP’s ability to be nimble in a changing technological environment.
Then, I’ll get ready for the next change…officially taking e-mail to email. It’s coming, people…get your red pens ready!
Are you a stickler for good grammar, or do word nerds like me drive you nuts?
About Katy
I am a journalism major, and this was HUGE news in the college! I actually prefer Web site, or maybe I’m just used to it by now. You should stop by a class of mine and hear all the lame, um, really funny about the recent AP style change:)
What school do you go to? I majored in Broadcast Journalism at Syracuse, and so did my colleague Jackie.
Great post. I’ve been waiting for them to finally close the deal. Time to change everything over officially. Being a website designer this will surely affect a lot of things. Especially tags on websites
but it does seem to flow nicer.
Ahhh! I don’t know what I would have done if they had changed such an important word like that on me! Which leads me to my answer, yes, yes, yes, I am certainly a word nerd, and a stickler for good grammar. I’m graduating with a degree in magazine journalism so I’ve been well-trained to edit. And edit I do. I’m constantly reading and in a sense proofreading everything I see… and it truly is enough to drive a person crazy
. Good luck making your adjustments with all of the websites. Looks like WordPress has already jumped on the band wagon 
take care!
Danielle, forgive me if I’ve already asked this…but do you go to Syracuse University?
Katy, you might be amused to learn that Yahoo has just announced that it’s publishing a style guide for the Web. It threatens to answer the question “Is it Web site or website or Website?” Of course, regular readers of Terribly Write know that Yahoo’s writers and editors can’t decide among themselves how to spell it. (See some examples at http://terriblywrite.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/is-it-website-web-site-or-web-site-who-knows-not-yahoo/)
I’m glad that there’s an authorative source for issues like this. And that source isn’t Yahoo.
Laura,
That’s a great link — thanks! It can be frustrating and confusing, especially when crowdsourcing becomes a factor.
Hey Katy, if you don’t know her already you should check out my mom’s friend Martha. Here’s her blog about grammar. She also has one about parenting and lots of other things like that
love you!
http://grammatically.blogspot.com/
I’m a blogger AND a high school English teacher. I could kiss you.
Awwww…it’s just nice to know I’m not alone.
Your dad and I are so proud of your zeal…it does our hearts good to see you and Jackie in action! I really have to get into the habit of snapping photos to send to you. We have seen some doozies!
I love grammar. If someone sold “I <3 Grammar" tee-shirts, I would proudly wear one. Having incorrect grammar in a story could get you an "F" in a j-school class — never got one!
It amazes me how many grammar, punctuation and spelling errors you see on signs that have probably been by a few copy editors. I remember seeing a car commercial on network TV that had the wrong "they're/there/their." Crazy!
And this is why I'm applying for editing jobs…
Erin and I went to the same j-school and she’s so right about those automatic F’s. Seriously spell something wrong, F.
Also I think it’s about freakin’ time the AP got on board with website. No one says “Web site” anymore. It’s not a proper noun. What’s with the capitalization?
Ok, end rant.
Needless to say I’m excited that they finally changed it.
I agree, email is definitely on the way! I love your signs depicting bad grammar. The problem is, you’ll need to be clicking that camera all day to catch them all since there are so many on the loose (and I mean “loose,” not “lose”) these days. Things probably won’t quiet (vs. “quite”) down in a hurry. The change in our language is on its (soon to be “it’s”) way, regardless (or will that be, “irregardless”?) of what we do. Language has always been malleable–the horrendous “it’s” used to BE the possessive form of “it” in Shakespeare’s day–and it looks like things are a-changing even as I type!
Ricki, I once called a company that had this monstrosity posted on its truck:
We start, we fix, we maintenance
It was a landscape company and I called as a friendly heads-up…but it was NOT taken that way. So instead, I out people on my site.
It’s my husband’s only fault so I forgive him, but anywhere else in the world it’s grounds for a whipping!
Mine is so worried about my wrath that before he posts on his site, he calls down the stairs for last-minute grammar checks!
I’d like to think that I’m a grammar freakazoid, but I couldn’t tell you the difference between i.e. and e.g. so maybe not! Haha!
When I see grammar errors on menus I seriously freak out, though. That’s my biggest pet peeve.
The Word Nerd might fall off her chair if she eyeballed my blog writing. But I do it on purpose. Because I just want it to flow. And it’s fun that way.
I teach English (to French students) and the mistakes I see and hear people make (writing & speaking) when they listen to US English speakers is horrible! Their response is ” Well, I heard it while watching a movie or a sit-com”. Ahhh!!!
Then again, with British English, its even worse because now they are watching US films on televison and they have completely reverted to type (US), with all the errors (and the US accent to boot)! Double Ahhh!!!
Therefore, I am reliquished to tell them that correct English grammar must be maintained in the classroom and “Franglais” can be used out of the room so that they can feel comfortable about being “cool” and continue to write and speak correctly in class!
One day a student came in class and said “see, I was right, afterall, its in the Urban Dictionary on-line”. All I could do was throw up my hands in shame! Triple Ahhh!!!
Lars,
I’m so glad you’re out there fighting the good grammar battle!
Seriously, someone used the Urban Dictionary as a source? Mama mia.