DOING IT IN STYLE

In days of fore, when journalists used telephones rather than digital platforms, any newspaper worth its salt had a style book. Indeed, some managements considered them essential, for they were seen as a means of bringing editorial uniformity and consistency to their titles. One of the problems was keeping them up to date. The first style book I was given instructed me to spell Jugoslavia with a J, an entry which was not changed - and then only grudgingly - until an international table tennis team arrived in Norwich with Yugoslavia with a Y on their tracksuits.
In the 30 years or so I was with this newspaper, staff were issued with updated style books on three occasions. I have copies of them all, dated 1959, 1976 and 1991. That is, roughly, one every decade and a half. So it was a slow business. Which brings to light another problem. Fashion and meanings, even in words, change.
The 1959 booklet is very detailed and particular and much concerned with the correctness of peoples' titles. Get those wrong, it seems to be saying, and you're in trouble. It is also much concerned with 'the pressure of imported words from across the Atlantic.'
Mainly, though, it is the nitty-gritty which is important, such as alternative spellings (aeroplane, not airplane), hyphens (to be held to a minimum), quotation marks, foreign words (the German umlaut caused problems for Linotype type setters), and place-names (Bintry, not Bintree). Forbidden words include: breathtaking, getaway, Jap, poetess, speed cop and venue.
By 1976, the style book was scarcely any more relaxed about things. 'This is for use - not for the back of office drawers,' it says, ominously; and this time it includes a greatly enlarged list of forbidden words and phrases including: amongst, at this moment in time, Chinaman, bombshell, farm labourer, lady, and whilst. It also has a section on misused words, such as: gutted, like, and unique.
The 1991 version, however, is more bulkily important and much more fidgety, running to 34 pages and being encased in a folder. And this time there are sections or comments on race and colour, tenses, introductions and split infinitives.
Cliches, it says: 'Do not use them.' And use spokesman, not spokeswoman or spokesperson; and chairman, not chairwoman or chairperson. Trade names also come into the mix for the first time, together with a demand for capital letters for Fibreglass, Jacuzzi, Plasticine, Catseye, and Biro.
However, there was still particular concern in getting Honours, Ranks and Titles right; sport ('different in that collective nouns take the pliural,' such as 'Norwich City are,' and 'England are' (not is. And more importantly, perhaps, and 30 years or more after the sin was first committed, a final correction for a Norfolk village. Henceforth, and finally, it is to be Bintree, not Bintry.
How times change. Mind you, some things can also get a little out of hand. In 2010 The Guardian newspaper published guardianstyle, in book form and on general sale. It runs to over 370 pages, and is a handy desktop work of reference.
(guardianstyle, David Marsh & Amelia Hodsdon. guardian books, 2010)