"A term that is somehow both loaded and meaningless."
October 11, 2014 1:40 PM   Subscribe

The Washington City Paper has shared its delightfully-snarky extension of the AP Style Guide, detailing how the paper would like its writers to cover topics relating to the District of Columbia. For starters, don't follow the paper's eponymous mistake, and call it Washington.
posted by schmod (22 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
queer
No longer considered a slur when used by decent human beings. Generally acceptable as a substitute for the other big umbrella term, LGBTQ (ex: “Whitman-Walker is expanding its health services for queer patients”). Avoid calling people queers (use it as an adjective, not a noun) unless you’re a queer writing in a colloquial tone, in which case, do whatever the fuck you want.

posted by The Whelk at 1:52 PM on October 11, 2014 [9 favorites]


Don’t call it “AdMo.”

I would like this to become law, and embossed in every sidewalk leading into said neighborhood.


native Washingtonian
Someone who was born in the District and is trying to win a public policy argument by reminding people of that.


oh no
posted by jetlagaddict at 2:00 PM on October 11, 2014 [3 favorites]


Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan Metro Station
See entry on “Broken Escalators.”


It's been more than 15 years, but apparently some things are timeless.
posted by feckless at 2:01 PM on October 11, 2014 [2 favorites]


I've been gone from there a couple of years now but I love the City Paper and I love this twice as hard.
posted by Navelgazer at 2:12 PM on October 11, 2014 [1 favorite]


serial comma
We use it.


:)
posted by MikeKD at 2:32 PM on October 11, 2014 [5 favorites]


Yo it's pronounced DOOpont. Also I was born in DC and therefore I am right.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:39 PM on October 11, 2014 [1 favorite]


This style guide is the funniest thing I've read in ages.

lottery
Can be interchangeably used to refer to either the city-sanctioned games of chance that prey on the poor with promises of big payouts or the city-sanctioned game of chance that parents east of Rock Creek Park feel forced to play if they want to get their kids into a good school. Odds of winning both are low.


I literally LOLed on this one. It's surprising no one stared.
posted by Measured Out my Life in Coffeespoons at 2:48 PM on October 11, 2014 [2 favorites]


I really like house style guides, even if I tend to know nothing about the things they remark on. I especially like style-guides that are snarked up for publication.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:22 PM on October 11, 2014 [4 favorites]


"Always give the neighborhood where a story takes place; “in Southeast” is not specific enough, mostly because we aren’t a local TV news operation."

HAHAHAHA

"Gray, Vince
Not Vincent C. Gray, as the Post styles him, because we asked him when he was elected whether he wanted to be known as Vince or Vincent. "


heh.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:24 PM on October 11, 2014 [1 favorite]


This was neat. And I learned that something called "mumbo sauce" exists, that I am now intrigued to try.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 5:15 PM on October 11, 2014 [1 favorite]


Chinatown: A neighborhood east of downtown, distinguishable by an arch over H Street NW, an outpost of a British dim sum chain, and Chinese characters on such neighborhood institutions as Urban Outfitters and City Sports. Formerly home to a large Chinese population.

One of the things I enjoy about living near Chinatown is watching confused tourists try to figure out where the *rest* of Chinatown is.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 7:21 PM on October 11, 2014 [6 favorites]


Under Transgender, there's this:

Always, ALWAYS use the subject’s preferred gender pronoun, even if s/he doesn’t match your idea of what that gender signifies. If you don’t know a subject’s PGP, ask, or avoid using pronouns altogether.

Nice.
posted by treepour at 8:14 PM on October 11, 2014 [4 favorites]


Chinablock.
posted by schmod at 8:58 PM on October 11, 2014 [2 favorites]


One of the things I enjoy about living near Chinatown is watching confused tourists try to figure out where the *rest* of Chinatown is.

This was weird to me (yes, as a tourist). It was the first Chinatown I'd gone to, and there's very few, you know, Chinese people; except the one guy who made noodles fresh in the window of the one restaurant... which didn't have particularly good food. Mrs. Machine, who had been to Chinatown, and who grew up in spitting distance of Cholon, was similarly baffled.

If the gentrification of Philadelphia continues, I'm afraid that its Chinatown will follow a similar route... although at least there's always Upper Darby.
posted by sonic meat machine at 5:51 AM on October 12, 2014 [2 favorites]


The rest of Chinatown is Vietnamese town and is about 20mi southwest in Eden Center.
posted by fontophilic at 6:09 AM on October 12, 2014 [1 favorite]


Yes, I've been there many times. :D
posted by sonic meat machine at 7:53 AM on October 12, 2014


This is fantastic (sez this professional copyeditor). One favorite out of many:
Wi-Fi
This is how the AP does it, though it’s probably the least elegant possible way to write it; we haven’t adopted a better style yet, but we will.
posted by languagehat at 9:43 AM on October 12, 2014 [1 favorite]


If you encounter someone who is using “Anacostia” but really means “all of wards 7 and 8,” shun that person.

Perfect.
posted by duffell at 5:14 PM on October 12, 2014


there's very few, you know, Chinese people; except the one guy who made noodles fresh in the window of the one restaurant... which didn't have particularly good food.

You gotta get the noodle soup and order it with duck. Put lots of the green sauce that looks like pesto in it. The dumplings are decent too. Everything else there is disappointingly mediocre, for sure.
posted by lunasol at 5:40 PM on October 12, 2014


If you want good Chinese food in DC, you need to go to the Days Inn on New York Avenue. I am serious.
posted by duffell at 6:29 PM on October 12, 2014 [1 favorite]


“speakeasy” Use scare quotes.

*snerk*
posted by Lexica at 9:47 PM on October 12, 2014


I like how they got the entry for the NFL football team in the same alphabetical position where it might be found anyway.

And I wish others would follow the advice on quadrants. Sometimes it feels like those of us living in NE, SE, or SW are the unrepresented of the unrepresented.
posted by exogenous at 6:24 AM on October 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


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