Last week the ACES 2011 was held in Phoenix. Some minor changes may be considered pretty major.
One big change to the AP Stylebook is the word "e-mail." The hyphen is no longer considered part of the word. The word e-mail should now be written as "email," with no hyphen.
This is a similar change to the word "website," which was changed last year from "web site."
Although e-mail was changed to "email," no other "e-words" were changed. So if you write "e-commerce" or "e-book," keep writing them with the hyphen.
Another change was to the words "smart phone" and "cell phone." These are now to be written as "smartphone" and "cellphone," as singular words.
As I'm typing, I even notice that Microsoft Word has these words as misspelled. You know, I see the red squiggly underlines. Let me try and help with the confusion.
So what are some typical words in the AP Stylebook? Here is a list of typical words that are often misspelled. These words have changed so much over the past few years and many new words have been created with lots of new technology.
The word "wiki" should not be capitalized.
AP Stylebook 2010 newly added words included crowdsourcing, search engine optimization, hashtag, fan, follow and trending, as well as others.
Many new trendy modern technology words like "app" and "Blu-ray" were added also.
Simple words like "thumbs-up" were clarified to include the hyphen. As with "email" removing the hyphen at this year's conference, do we think "thumbs-up" will become "thumbsup" next year?
Many acronyms used in texting are now in the AP Stylebook. For instance, the word "POS" is used for "parents over shoulder." I hope all parents are aware of that one.
The word "Bluetooth" should be written with the capital "B" and as one single word.
Other new entries over the past few years have included "flu-like," high-five," "Taser," and "Ultimate Fighting."
One near and dear to everyone American's heart is the term "9/11" which may be written as the simple form I just listed or may be written as "Sept. 11th." Both of these are shorthand referring to “the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001."
About The AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world's population sees news from AP. Online: www.ap.org
Keep this list of AP Stylebook changes in the back of your mind and watch for any updates to Microsoft Word and other word processing software dictionaries. In the meantime, you can add these newly spelled words to your dictionary. Read my previous article on dictionaries to find out how.
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