The Style Book of The Detroit News Part 15

Two cities in the United States take final _gh_. They are _Pittsburgh, Pa._, and _Newburgh, N. Y._ Also write it _Edinburgh_.

Drop the unsounded final letters in such words as _program_, _catalog_, _suffraget_, _dialog_, _cigaret_, _decalog_. Similarly, write _armor_, _favor_, _color_, and _Savior_.

Some words have lost prefix or suffix, and if they are in good use in their curtailed form, they should be written without apostrophes, as, _cello_ and _varsity_.

POPULAR NAMES OF RAILROADS

Big Four Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis.

Burlington Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.

Clover Leaf Toledo, St. Louis & Western.

Cotton Belt St. Louis Southwestern.

Katy Missouri, Kansas & Texas.

Lackawanna Delaware, Lackawanna & Western.

Lake Sh.o.r.e Lake Sh.o.r.e & Michigan Southern.

Lookout Mountain Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis.

Monon Chicago, Indiana & Louisville.

Nickel Plate New York, Chicago & St. Louis.

Pan Handle Pittsburg, Cleveland, Chicago & St. Louis.

Queen & Crescent Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas.

Rock Island Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific.

Soo Milwaukee & Sault Ste. Marie.

St. Paul, or Milwaukee Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul.

NOTES

DO AND DON'T

Don't use the words _suicide_ and _murder_ in heads on stories recounting the details of specific crimes or their prosecution. However, should a story of the sociological type appear, dealing with, for example, the increase in the number of suicides or the attempts of the police to reduce the number of murders, the use of either word in the headline is allowed. In the body of the story the most natural expression and good taste must guide the writer, and the use of these words is permissible if they most clearly and effectively express the information in hand.

Names of girls or women who are the victims of actual or attempted indecent attack are not to be published under ordinary circ.u.mstances.

Authority for exceptions will be granted by the editor when there is sufficient reason.

Use the names of POISONS only when essential to the story.

Never call _a policeman a cop_.

Keep the reporter or a representative of The News out of the story. It is understood that a reporter and a reporter for The News writes a story that appears in The News.

Write the English language. For _sine qua non_, write _essentials_; for _de riguer_, _coup d'etat_, _coup de grace_, _Sturm und Drang_, _au fait_ and similar phrases use English equivalents. Some exceptions are _decollete_, _fiancee_ and _fiance_, and other words which have been taken over into the language. Don't mix languages. Write _a day_, not _per day_. As a general rule use _per_ only in the phrase _per cent_.

_Comatose_ means in a state of _profound insensibility_, not merely dazed as some writers believe.

_Et al._ stands for the Latin _et alii_, _et aliae_, or _et alia_, meaning _and others_. Of course it should never be written _et als._ to form a fancied plural.

_p.r.o.ne_ means lying flat and face downward. One can not lie p.r.o.ne on the back. _Supine_ means lying on the back.

Use _pseudonym_, a good English word, or _pen name_, and not _nom de plume_, which isn't even good French. Says L'Intermediaire, a French journal: "We do not know in our language the expression _nom de plume_.

We have the phrase _nom de guerre_."

Don't use _most_ for _almost_, as, _I am most as tall as you_.

Never write _kiddies_ or _tots_. Write _kids_ when referring to young goats or to children in stories written in a spirit of levity, as, _This is the big day for the kids on Belle Isle_. Don't try to arouse sympathy for children in unfortunate circ.u.mstances by calling them _poor little tots_, or _poor kiddies_.

Avoid words borrowed from the yellow-backs, such as, _The bullet crashed through his brain_, _She tripped down the steps_. Try such sentences as this on your hisser: _"I will not go," he hissed._

In news stories don't use thieves' slang, as, _d.i.c.k_, _frisk_, _dip_, _gat_.

Don't use the editorial _we_. It is old-fas.h.i.+oned. Say _The Detroit News_.

Don't refer to the Darwinian theory or to Dr. Osler's theory without knowing what they mean.

Don't call _a revolver a gun_ or _a pistol a revolver_. It is _automatic pistol_.

Reporters frequently quote Kipling to the effect that west is west, east is east, and never the twain shall meet. But if they knew the poem, they would be aware of the fact that the next line qualifies the quoted lines and vitiates the observation.

_The exception proves the rule_ is a phrase that arises from ignorance, though common to good writers. The original word was _preuves_, which did not mean _proves_ but _tests_.

Say in bad _condition_, not in bad _shape_.

A toga was a garment worn by a Roman citizen. The word is persistently misused to refer to senatorial honors.

Avoid newspaper slang. To all but a few of our readers the word _story_ means not _an item of news_ in the paper but a _piece of fiction_. To speak of a _story_ meaning a piece for the paper is to confuse them. Say _article_ or _item_.

Don't write _alright_. There is no such word in the language.

Avoid poetic forms. Do not use _amongst_ for _among_. _Thither_ and _whither_ have a bookish sound. Prefer the simple _while_ to the fancy _whilst_.

There are no degrees of _certainty_. Don't write a thing seems _more certain_.

_Amateur_ means _non-professional_, not necessarily _unskilled_.

_Novice_ implies lack of skill.

_Spectators_ see; an _audience_ is a collection of _auditors_.

_Spectators_ go to ball games and motion picture theaters.

Use _render_ in speaking of lard and not of songs.

Don't use _complected_ for _complexioned_.