Perhaps it’s a love of punctuation that drove the editor for Yahoo! Shine to write TV with periods (it’s not an abbreviation of tele vision) and tearjerkers with a hyphen:
According to several dictionaries (including the American Heritage Dictionary, which the editor could have found on the Yahoo! network), there’s no hyphen in tearjerker.
Have you ever wondered what is the modus operandi for writers at Yahoo! Shine? Do you wonder how they can get paid for work that isn’t up to the standards of a high school newspaper? What was the writer thinking when she decided that M.O. was the abbreviation for Missouri?
Actually, M.O. isn’t even the abbreviation for modus operandi, which is MO without the periods. If you follow Associated Press style, you use Mo. (and not the postal abbreviation MO) as the abbreviation for Missouri.
Fact-checking also isn’t part of her work habits. I can’t overlook the “lutes slippers,” which were actually called “lotus slippers.” Nor can I ignore the fact that they did not have high heels:
Foot pedals are devices that you operate with your foot, like the pedal on a sewing machine. The writer is actually describing Foot Petals, a trademark of a product that fits into shoes.
So, what was the writer’s MO when composing this? Write anything. Right or wrong. But definitely wrong.
Yahoo! omg! isn’t helping its image with this NAACP overkill:
Is there anyone in the United States of America who hasn’t heard of the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade? And who doesn’t know that it’s commonly pronounced Roe VEE Wade? There’s at least one person — who may be writing from a cubicle farm in Mumbai — who’s unfamiliar with the court case and with the abbreviation for versus in legalese. And that person writes for the Yahoo! front page:
According to Grammar Girl:
In American law, the widely used citation standard is the “Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation,” which demands that opposing legal parties be separated by “v.” when referring to a particular case. This usage is also used by the news media and other writers when referring to legal cases.
This probably makes sense to the editor for the Yahoo! front page, but to people living in the United States, it means Mississippi District of Columbia:
Yup, the abbreviation Miss. is short for that Southern state. The title miss (as in Miss D.C.) is not an abbreviation.
Maybe this makes sense to someone smarter than I:
I’ve heard of coffee vs. tea, but that’s not what it says on Yahoo! Screen.
If I have a PIN number, would that be the number of my personal identification number? I mean, does my number have a number? Maybe so! That may be the reason for the otherwise redundant numbers on the Yahoo! front page:
And do I use my personal identification number number at an ATM machine, which is actually an automated teller machine machine?
Srsly? Are the writers for the Yahoo! front page now so disinterested in actual communication that they’re satisfied with text messaging? What’ll we see next on yahoo.com? LOL? LMFAO?
Washington, D.C., is often shortened to Washington, the District of Columbia, or simply D.C. Except on the Yahoo! front page where the abbreviation is missing the periods:
Except when it’s not missing the periods:
It really doesn’t matter which abbreviation you use. Just make a decision. And if you work with other writers, make sure you all know what that decision is.
What happens when the world’s “premier digital media company” lets its staffers loose without direction? This happens: The writers and editors for Yahoo! News can’t make up their collective minds about a simple abbreviation. They can’t decide if they should follow the Associated Press style for Ph.D, which they do here:
Or nearly follow it here:
Or just use the style listed in the American Heritage Dictionary:
Or make up something completely wrong:
This is what happens when a “media” company doesn’t have a style guide or even a preferred authority on style. There’s a lesson for all of us, even those like me who are the only writer on a hobby blog: Pick a style guide or dictionary or other authority and stick with it.
