AP Stylebook

08/01/2025

AP style for your summer meals:
* No hyphens in corn on the cob or soft serve ice cream.
* Icebox pie has a filling that is chilled or frozen, rather than baked. Icebox is one word, no hyphen.
* BLT is acceptable on first reference for a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. We don't take sides on whether the bread should be toasted or not.

07/31/2025

Our primary dictionary, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, shows that the proper terms are iced tea or iced coffee, meaning cooled by ice. It’s not ice tea or ice coffee.

Add the Merriam-Webster module to your Stylebook Online subscription to check the proper terminology for your cool, refreshing summer beverage and much more.
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07/30/2025

The first live session of our writing course Write Your Way to Success is coming on Tuesday.
Stylebook editor Anna Jo Bratton is among the AP journalists who will join host Ted Anthony for this four-part online course.
Don't miss it!

In this four-part course, top writers and editors from The Associated Press show you how effective writing – and the things that go into it – can point the way toward better outcomes in your own writing.

07/30/2025

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a degenerative brain disease that researchers have linked to concussions or repeated blows to the head. It is most closely associated with football but also has been diagnosed in some athletes from other contact sports and military combat veterans. It can be identified only posthumously through an examination of the brain.
CTE is acceptable on second reference, and in headlines if essential.

07/29/2025

AP style cautions against using words that suggest a disability is negative, such as afflicted with, battling or suffers from any disability or illness, or that a person overcame her disability. Instead use neutral phrases such as "has cancer" or "being treated for cancer."
Bear in mind that disabilities can be a combination of both challenges and assets.
Generally avoid "living with" constructions unless a person uses that for themself.
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Colorado coach Deion Sanders says he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bladder cancer but after surgery his oncologist has considered him cured, so he plans to coach this season.

07/28/2025

When writing about academic departments, use lowercase except for words that are proper nouns or adjectives: the department of history, the history department, the department of English, the English department. Capitalize the official and formal name of a department, such as the University of Connecticut Department of Economics.

Tom Lehrer, the popular song satirist who lampooned marriage, politics, racism and the Cold War, was part of the mathematics department at the University of California at Santa Cruz well into his late 70s.
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Tom Lehrer songs included “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park,” “The Old Dope Peddler,” “Be Prepared” and “The Vatican Rag,” in which he poked at the rites and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church.

07/25/2025

This fall, we're offering two all-new workshops:
* AP Stylebook Workshop 101: Master the Mechanics will focus on the fundamentals including punctuation, capitalization and numerals.
* AP Stylebook Workshop 201: Refine Your Content will cover the big-picture questions of how to improve your writing and editing to make your copy clear and compelling.

Sign up now and you can take both workshops for just $350. This offer expires soon so don't miss out!
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07/25/2025

Either accident or crash is generally acceptable for automobile and other collisions and wrecks.
However, when negligence is claimed or proven, avoid the term accident, which can be read by some as a term exonerating the person responsible. In such cases, use crash, collision or other terms.

07/24/2025

Are you the person to whom coworkers come when they have questions about using who or whom? Or do you just rewrite the sentence if you aren't sure if you should use who or whom?

We've heard it said that "whom" might just disappear because most people don't understand it. Would you miss it?

07/23/2025

People often ask us why their AP Stylebook doesn't have spiral binding.
We sell the spiral-bound AP Stylebook on our website. If you bought yours somewhere else, you probably got the version with traditional paperback binding. The content is the same, it's just packaged differently.
If you want the spiral binding so your Stylebook will stay open to the page you're using, order from us -- and as a bonus, you can opt in to email notifications when our editors add or change AP style entries.

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07/23/2025

If a person suffocates in water or other fluid, the proper statement is that the individual drowned. To say that someone "was drowned" implies that another person caused the death by holding the victim's head under the water.

07/22/2025

The term hacker is commonly used for someone who penetrates computer systems without authorization. The term originally referred to anyone with expertise in programming or hardware who tinkers with technology to understand its workings and explore new uses.
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Microsoft is issuing an emergency fix to close off a vulnerability in Microsoft’s SharePoint software that hackers have exploited to carry out widespread attacks on businesses and at least some…