Fake AP Stylebook

Being in that it can be hard and also difficult as well to write good, the Associated Press stylebook is basically the bible of professional writers. It's the source to turn to to decide, for example, whether to use a numeral or to type out the number in full. (Type out whole numbers from one to nine, use digits for 10 and higher. Also, why AP but no UPI stylebook? Must have been discontinued a few years ago.)

The Fake AP Stylebook is a twitter-based collection of mock "rules" that guides writers through such stumpers as what the plural of Blackberry users is.

Some examples, from a Wired.com report from October:

* “The plural of Blackberry is ‘Blackberries.’ The plural of Blackberry users is “Dingleberries.’”
* “If you do not have an interviewees’ full title, use their most defining physical trait (e.g. ‘Alan Hayes, fat guy, said…’)”
* “Avoid using the letter ‘G’ as it is unlucky.”

Which is more helpful in everyday life, the real thing or the fake? Is every day one word or two?

The only twit worth reading

Apparently, Twitter is still around. Old people are still discovering it, and slightly less old people are still figuring out that it's pretty pointless. But there is one man who makes it worth occasionally checking out, one voice from the past reborn via this rather useless new medium, that of the first man to ever be photographed while flipping the bird, Old Hoss Radbourn.

Old Hoss Radbourn was a famous baseball pitcher in the 1880's, and he died over 110 years ago. But that isn't stopping him from posting silly and amusing updates to Twitter.

Old Hoss puts out the twits on popular topics of the day, but in his classic 19th-century-ballplayer voice. Sample twit, on spring training: "Just talked to Cobb. He loved spring training. Worked on his spiking skills, often by sliding into waiters. Made dining out awkward." On Olympic hockey: "Land alive. This "hockey" is marvelous! It is a shame that, like "Super G," it is only played once every four years."

It's good to see someone that can make twitter interesting, rather than just posting the equivalent of "I have a ham radio!"

Old Hoss says Twit this: