The Style Book of The Detroit News Part 13

Do not use _master_ in referring to a boy.

Write _Mr. and Mrs. James Smith_, not _James Smith and wife._

Do not write Mrs. Judge Smith, or Mrs. Dr. Jones.

Use the indefinite article, as _Frank Smith, a plumber_; _William Jones, a barber_. Use the definite article in naming persons of distinction, as _William Dean Howells, the writer_; _Sarah Bernhardt, the actress_.

The surname is written first among the Chinese. _Sun Yat Sen_ is _Dr.

Sun_. _Li Hung Chang_ is _Mr. Li_. Chinese is a monosyllabic language and all names should be written with each syllable capitalized, but hyphens are used with geographical names, as, _Yang-Tse-Kiang_, _Ho-Hang-Ho_, except _Pekin_, _Nankin_, _Shanghai_, _Hankow_ and _Canton_. Drop unnecessary letters in Chinese names whenever possible, as _Pekin(g)_, _Yuan Shi(h) Kai_, _Ho(w)-Hang-Ho_.

Write a man's name as he writes it. It is not _A. H. Frazer_; it is not _Allan Frazer_; but _Allan H. Frazer_. It is not _F. H. Croul_ or _Frank Croul_, but _Frank H. Croul_.

It is the King of the Belgians, not the King of Belgium.

Writing of a knight, be sure that you use his first name with the t.i.tle _Sir_. He is _Sir Arthur Conan Doyle_, not _Sir Conan Doyle_. Never write _Sir Doyle_. The wife of a knight, however, is addressed as _Lady Blank_, not necessarily _Lady Mary Blank_.

JEW AND HEBREW

The proper use of the words "Hebrew" and "Jew" has been explained by the American Jewish Committee, as follows: "Although no hard and fast rules can be laid down, the word 'Hebrew' has come to have a purely racial connotation. It refers to a race and to the language of that race. Thus we hear of a 'Hebrew Christian,' meaning a person of Hebrew descent who has been raised in or adopted the Christian religion. The word 'Jew,'

although often used for denoting a member of the Hebrew race without reference to religion or nationality, has come, in the best usage, to have two restricted meanings--a national and a religious meaning. It used to mean a person who was a subject of the Kingdom of Judah, in the southern part of Palestine, and later it was also applied to those who were subjects of the northern Kingdom of Israel. Under Roman domination Palestine was called 'Judea' and its inhabitants 'Jews.' The word Jew has the same sense now among those who believe that the dispersion of the Jewish people and the fact that they possess no territory of their own has not deprived them of their character as a nation or nationality.

The other meaning of 'Jew' is any one who professes the religious principles laid down in the Old Testament as interpreted in the Talmud.

Thus, a Gentile who adopts the Jewish faith may be called a Jew, but may not be called a Hebrew, because he does not descend from that sub-cla.s.s of the Semitic race from which the Hebrews are reputed to come. Up to the last quarter of the nineteenth century the Jews rarely applied the term 'Jew' to themselves, as it was used as a term of opprobrium and as a contemptuous epithet. The Jews preferred to call themselves 'Hebrews'

or 'Israelites.' Since about 1880, however, the Jewish people have come to adopt this name more and more generally, and it has begun to lose its derogatory meaning. The word 'Jew' is always a noun, and its use as an adjective in such cases as 'Jew boy' and 'Jew peddler,' etc., is as ungrammatical as it is vulgar."

Don't use _Jew_ as a verb, as, _I jewed him down to a dollar_.

NOTES

CHURCH t.i.tLES

Writing of clergymen, follow this style: _the Rev. Dr. John J. Blank_, _Dr. Blank_, the _Rev. Mr. Blank_. Never _Rev. Blank_ or _the Rev.

Blank_.

Bishops of the Catholic, Anglican or Episcopal communions use the prefix _Right Reverend_, abbreviated _Rt. Rev._

Bishops of the Methodist church NEVER use the prefix _Rt. Rev._ They make no claim to apostolic succession. The usage of Methodism is to write, for example, "Bishop Theodore Somers Henderson, of the Methodist Episcopal area of Detroit."

In the Methodist church an episcopal division is denominated, Area; in the Catholic and Anglican communions, Diocese.

Deans of the Catholic and Anglican churches use the prefix _Very Rev._

Under no circ.u.mstances call priests of the Roman Catholic church _ministers_. Call them either priests or pastors.

The denominational usage in the Methodist church is to call clergymen _preachers_. In the Congregational and Presbyterian churches it is in accord with denominational usage to call clergymen _ministers_.

Archbishops of the Catholic church carry the prefix _Most Rev._; cardinals, _His Eminence_; as, _His Eminence, James, Cardinal Gibbons_.

Invariably the word _Rabbi_ should be placed before the name of a Jewish pastor. It should be written, _Rabbi Leo M. Franklin, of the Temple Beth El_; never _Dr. Leo M. Franklin, rabbi of the Temple Beth El_.

Never use indiscriminately the prefix _Dr._ in the case of a clergyman.

Clergymen of any denomination are not ent.i.tled to the prefix _Dr._ unless the degree of Doctor of Divinity has been conferred on them by some recognized college or university.

Write a priest's name, _the Rev. Fr. Blank_, or _Fr. Blank_.

COMPOUNDS

Webster's New International Dictionary is the standard of the office on compounding words, on hyphenation and on spelling, except as the style of The News noted in this book is different.

+----------------------------------------------+ REPORTER OF THE NEW ... REMEMBRANCER OF THE OLD AND TRIED ... HERALD OF WHAT IS TO COME. +----------------------------------------------+

SUPERFLUOUS WORDS

Avoid awkward phrases as _a man of the name of_. A _man named_ is not only better style but shorter. Do not write _at the corner of State and Griswold streets_, but simply _at State and Griswold streets_. In place of _so that_ use either _so_ or _that_. In the phrases that follow, observe that the italicized words are not needed.

throughout the _whole of the_ state throughout the _entire_ state _in order_ to a hill resembling _in its form_ a hat the problem is _a difficult one_ he addressed the _different_ schools _As yet_ no clue has been found he works _equally_ as hard most are _of a_ large _size_ _the color of_ the hat was green

Don't say _invited guest_. It is supposed that a guest is invited.

Don't say _They both went_. Omit _they_.

Write _equally well_, or _as well_, not _equally as well_.

Don't write _new beginner_ or _new recruit_.

Don't write _general consensus of opinion_. Omit the _general_.

Consensus means _a general agreement_.

Don't say _entirely completed_. _Completed_ means finished in entirety.

Don't say _partly completed_; that phrase involves a contradiction.

Don't write that he has _a brilliant future before him_. Futures do not lie in the past.