Grammar Neurotics at Ohio State, Rejoice!

Ohio State recently made the switch to Associated Press style. The AP Stylebook is the holy text in journalism school, so anyone coming from a news writing background was surely giddy over this announcement.

The best part is, Ohio State has its own digital AP Stylebook, at apstylebook.com/osu. It includes the writer’s rules of the road, with supplemental tips tailored for Ohio State:

In writing style, things change. I love how social context makes language malleable and that AP style reflects that. The problem was, buying a new AP Stylebook every year was a serious pain (I finally recycled my 2008 print copy yesterday).

In the online stylebook, next to OSU pointers, are notes on when things have been updated. This comes in handy for someone like me who’s been out of the game for a few years. When I’m wrong I can at least redeem myself and say “ah! It was two words when I learned AP Style…”

So, next time you find yourself in one of the most dreaded office conflicts:

“Shouldn’t you spell that out?”

“Is it Blackberrys or BlackBerries?”

“Isn’t it a Master’s of Arts Degree?”

Just look to the stylebook. Breaking editorial stalemates since 1953.

3 thoughts on “Grammar Neurotics at Ohio State, Rejoice!

  1. ugh. I don’t like email. Prefer e-mail especially when it then goes on to say use e- for other e- terms. Why is email special? e-mail gives the hint of ‘electronic mail’. Booo…

  2. Thanks for the note on our AP style transition. One of the main reasons we selected it was it does continually update and stay relevant. Just last week the style was updated to reflect proper usage of Bitcoin in various instances.

    At any rate, we continue to work on the custom portion site and it will evolve and get more robust as we move forward. As always we welcome any feedback at style@osu.edu.

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