Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Mock the AP Stylebook

This is fishing with dynamite.

On Twitter, @APStylebook, which previously solicited adoration for its latest edition, rather as if buying it compared to getting free Springsteen tickets, now wants its users to tweet about why they are thankful for it.

I am not making this up: Tell us why you are thankful for your AP Stylebook by Thanksgiving and you will have a chance to win a subscription to Stylebook Online.*

This is just sad. The Chicago Manual of Style doesn’t have to make pathetic public appeals for admiration. Sadder still, people are beginning to respond to @APStylebook’s invitation, describing the brilliance that this flawed reference book brings into their drab little lives.

Someone should draw the curtain on this painful scene.



*My retweet, Because it lends itself so beautifully to mockery, will not, I think, win the prize.
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10 comments:

  1. KarenNovember 17, 2009 at 12:12 PM

    I'd rather win a copy of the forthcoming book from the guys over at @FakeAPStylebook!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 17, 2009 at 1:35 PM

    Retweet? Retweet?

    Ugh. Thanks, I am now officially part of the (*the*) out-group.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LorettaNovember 17, 2009 at 3:48 PM

    I don't tweet, but how about, "Because it's not APA 6.1"?

    ReplyDelete
  4. djwNovember 17, 2009 at 6:31 PM

    I'm with Karen!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jesus Saves, I SpendNovember 17, 2009 at 7:13 PM

    Begging for attention is mockable, yes, but other than that why do you hate the AP Stylebook?

    ReplyDelete
  6. John McIntyreNovember 17, 2009 at 7:44 PM

    Why? Have a look here:

    http://johnemcintyre.blogspot.com/2009/06/damn-you-ap-stylebook.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownNovember 18, 2009 at 11:18 AM

    I get the sense that asking McIntyre why he hates the AP style book would be like asking him why he hates wikipedia. Don't get him started...

    ReplyDelete
  8. John McIntyreNovember 18, 2009 at 11:56 AM

    A little effort with the search function on this blog and the previous one will provide ample documentation about the AP Stylebook and Wikipedia without my having to type another word.

    ReplyDelete
  9. UnknownNovember 18, 2009 at 12:20 PM

    I'm thankful that I use a real style guide and not AP.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousNovember 26, 2009 at 11:07 PM

    I've decided the AP -- with its frequent updates and additions to its style -- has decided to turn the stylebook into a profit center, between the dead-trees edition and the subscriptions newspapers pay for the online access to the stylebook. It's quite unseemly and further evidence of the continuing decay of that once-essential resource.

    ReplyDelete

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