backyard One word as a noun or adjective (AP style change, 2006) However, AP is continuing with two words for front yard.

Bad guy/gal nicknames In most cases, all caps, no quote marks: the Night Stalker

bailout

Baghdad stands alone in datelines, captions, etc. – Iraq isn’t needed as of 3/07

ballgames

ballpark

ballplayers

ballot propositions - Basically, all initiatives are propositions but all propositions are not initiatives. Proposition is the umbrella term. For our purposes, propositions can be broken into four types:

1) initiative - generated by “the people” (or the Legislature or other private or public groups), these attempt to create a new law.

2) referendum - also generated by “the people” (or the Legislature or other groups), these attempt to nullify a recently-enacted law (similar to how a recall election can shove an office-holder out of office).

3) bond act - generated by the Legislature, these seek to appropriate money for specific purposes (road improvements, schools, parkland acquisition, etc.).

4) constitutional amendments - also generated by the Legislature, these are proposals to change the state constitution.

The Banning mansion in the Harbor Area

Bar - State Bar of California - the Bar or the State Bar on second reference when referring to a specific organization; when non-specific context say “The state bars are discussing...”

Barnes & Noble

basin (see Los Angeles basin)

Bay Area - (see San Francisco). The newer AP Stylebooks have accepted the capitalization of Area when used in association with the Northern California counties.

beach cities

beaches/Long Beach area

(tk)

beaches/South Bay

Burnout Beach (Redondo)

Dockweiler State Beach

Torrance beach (lowercase to avoid confusion with communities of Manhattan Beach, etc.)

Mothers' Beach

Pirates' Cove (Malibu)

Rat Beach (see Rat Beach entry)

Santa Monica Beach

Smugglers' Cove (PVP)

Toes Beach (Playa del Rey)

Venice Beach (capitalize beach)

beachfront, adj.

beachgoer

Belmont Shore (not Shores)

berth – Cap if a number is given (Berth 31)

Best Actor Award, etc.

Bel-Air (needs hyphen)

Bible (No italics or quote marks)

big-box store

Big Three – for the automakers, it's Big Three in TEXT, Big 3 in headlines.

Bills - Once a bill has been introduced and thus has a number it cannot be a “proposed” bill. It is a real, live bill. It can be referred to as “the proposal” or say “the bill, if passed, would ...”

On first reference, spell out Senate Bill 241...it can be SB in following references. And it's SB 241, not SB241.

Billy’s Deli and Cafe- apparently

bin Laden, Osama

BlackBerry, BlackBerrys (BlackBerry devices may be easier to read)

Black Hawk (helicopter)

blog (almost no one uses Web log now)

BMI - Broadcast Music Inc., one of three musical rights groups recognized by federal courts

B'nai B'rith (do not abbreviate by using B'nai ONLY) - A Jewish service organization.

boat names - Capitalize the first letter of each word; do NOT use italics or quotation marks. Use complete names of ships; for example, it's SS Princess Louise, not SS Louise (there could be another ship/boat with that name). NOTE: no periods in SS

bond ratings (see BUSINESS entry)

book titles (see composition titles)

Boogie Board (made by Morey); generic is bodyboard

boombox (as per Webster's Third)

Border Patrol or U.S. Border Patrol - capitalize even when not the complete formal reference, U.S. is implied in informal reference. A unit of U.S. Customs and Border Protection within the Department of Homeland Security.

Bookstar (no longer in business)

Borders Books

Bosnia-Herzegovina The people are Bosnians. Also see Yugoslavia

Boys and Girls Club(s)

Brackets We use parentheses for parenthetical information

Old, old Breeze building in Redondo Beach, above; old Breeze building in Torrance, left.

New address:

Daily Breeze

South Bay Tower

21250 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 170

Torrance, CA 90503

Pat Brown - Governor of California from 1959 to 1966; deceased

Jerry Brown - Effective 3/26/92 (in light of `92 presidential campaign publicity): It's now simply Jerry Brown.Currently California attorney general, or if context requires it, former Gov. Jerry Brown. Formal name is Edmund G. Brown Jr. He ran for president in 1976, 1980, 1992. He was governor from 1975 to 1982. His father, who was also governor, was Edmund G. “Pat” Brown.

buildings - Follow AP Style. For local style, the J. Paul Getty Museum would be the Getty Museum on second reference. But the J. Paul Getty Ancient Fish Museum would be the Getty museum on second reference (other ideas on this? Trying to work this out).

Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services

Yvonne Brathwaite Burke (use all three names -- it's her preference -- but it's Burke on second reference); Watson is her maiden name, Brathwaite was her first husband, Burke her second

Burma - Use Myanmar, especially with the Arco connection, but it can be wise to add a reference that it was formerly known as Burma to avoid confusion. Evidently, capital city will continue to be called Rangoon by AP (although the name officially changed to Yangon)

burqa

-buster

budgetbuster

bylines:

If it’s from the Breeze or a LANG newspaper, it’s staff writer. If it’s from a MediaNews Group newspaper elsewhere (Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News, etc.), just say MediaNews:

By Dolly Denver

MediaNews

When sending to AP, change byline info to Daily Breeze.

 

 Business                                                                         

WARNING: Some of these items are outdated and need to be updated. Check on Internet, or

See also: Business Guidelines and Style section in the AP Stylebook.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

COMMONLY-USED BUSINESS NAMES AND TERMS

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Albertsons (changed 11/03 to reflect change in corporate policy)

AlliedSignal Inc. -- merged with Honeywell.

American Honda Motor Co. Inc. Torrance-based

Arthur Andersen/Andersen - From Chris Wienandt of The Dallas Morning News:Our library researched this and found that the company is still officially Arthur Andersen LLP. However, it "prefers" to be known as Andersen. Our style is to call it Arthur Andersen LLP on first reference and Andersen thereafter, in part because readers aren't familiar with just "Andersen" at this point. Also of note: I heard a report on NPR the other day refer to the company as "Andersen Consulting, Enron's auditing firm." Andersen Consulting and the accounting arm of the company had a big rift a few years ago. One result of the ensuing litigation was that Andersen Consulting had to change its name (it's now Accenture). So there's no accounting for ... never mind.

Apple Computer - based in Cupertino

Arco - this unofficial name for Atlantic Richfield Co. and thus it's not all caps (as it would be if the acronym was the true name). Use full name on first reference, Arco is acceptable on 2nd reference and in headlines.

The Aerospace Corp. – but never just Aerospace (it can’t stand alone like Boeing)

AT&T Corp. – AP: “The full name of the business formerly known as American Telephone and Telegraph Co.”

Bank of America—If using BofA, it's just that, not B of A

Bankruptcy filings -

Chapter 7: A straight liquidation bankruptcy in which an appointed trustee sells all assets by auction or other means to pay creditors and trustee fees. (OUT O' BIZ FOR GOOD).

Chapter 11: A business gains temporary relief from debt payments to attempt a successful reorganization. (please don't refer in headline to the company being bankrupt. they are not) Debtor remains in control of the business during the bankruptcy and the business continues to operate. (COMPANY WILL NOW REORGANIZE AND, IF BANKRUPTCY JUDGE APPROVES REORGANIZATION PLAN, WILL ATTEMPT TO FOLLOW IT THROUGH TO AN EXIT OF THE CHAPTER 11.

Involuntary Chapter 7 or 11: Debtor is forced into bankruptcy by secured creditors whose claims total at least $5,000.

Barnes & Noble

Barney's/Barneys - without apostrophe, is name of store - Barneys New York; Barney's,

with apostrophe, is name of company Barney's Inc.)

Billings - An advertising business term. Billings means amount of ad spending.

Bloomberg News is correct credit line for stories from this wire service. Changed from Bloomberg Business News at beginning of 1997.

Bloomingdale's (a unit of Federated Department Stores Inc., which also owned The Broadway

stores and Bullock's, as well as Macy's.)

The Boeing Co. headquartered in Chicago with significant operations in Long Beach but none in the South Bay.

Bond ratings - use letters, AA+, BB, etc.

BP (British Petroleum)

Builders Emporium (note: no apostrophe)

Carrows restaurant

California Federal Bank (CalFed OK in headline)

CEO/COO -In headlines, CEO is OK; COO, CFO etc. probably aren’t as well recognized so avoid them in heds, captions, etc. In text, they may be OK on second reference.

Chrysler Corp. – now DaimlerChrysler AG, but there is a Chrysler unit of the new company

Coco's

CompUSA Inc. (NYSE: CPU), Dallas.

CompuServe - now owned by America Online Inc.

ConocoPhillips

Corporation – use Corp. if it is part of company name, as in Johnson Corp.

DaimlerChrysler AG

DVD - Use “DVD” on first and all references (fyi, digital versatile discs or digital video discs)

Diluted earnings

DirecTV Inc., - El Segundo, a unit of News Corp. (DirecTV is a former subsidiary of El Segundo-based Hughes Electronics Corp. which is owned by General Motors Corp.)

Douglas Aircraft Co. - Long Beach. No longer exists; Long Beach plant is now part of Boeing's Long Beach operations. Douglas was a unit of St. Louis-based McDonnell Douglas Corp., which also no longer exists.

DreamWorks SKG

earnings - see net income

EchoStar Communications Corp.

Excite@home

ExxonMobil but Exxon Mobil Corp. is the corporate name. Maybe it's best to just say ExxonMobil

without mentioning corporation.

firm/company - In body copy, don't substitute “firm” for “company” or “corporation.” A firm is a business partnership (such as law firm) that is not incorporated; incorporated businesses should always be called companies (the switch is acceptable in headlines if space is an issue)

Ford Motor Co.

Fresh & Easy

401(k)

General Motors Corp.

generations – baby boomer (AP style), but others seem to be more appropriate when capped: Generation X, Generation Y, Millenials, First Digitals, etc.

grocery stores:

Albertsons

Pavilions

Ralphs

7-Eleven

Stater Bros.

Vons

gross domestic product - the sum of all goods and services produced in the United States. Recently surplanted GNP (gross national product) as the government's primary measure of the U.S. economy.

GDP is made up of consumer and government purchases, private domestic and foreign investments in the U.S. and the total value of exports.

GDP does not include what U.S. companies earn from non-U.S. operations. For example, if Coca-Cola has a Russian plant that makes and sells Coke in Russia, the plant's profits are not included in the U.S. gross domestic product.

gross national product - same as the gross domestic product EXCEPT it does include what companies earn from non-U.S. operations. The difference between GDP and GNP is slight, in the United States. For example, the 1993 second quarter GDP was $5.102 trillion vs. a $5.104 trillion GNP.

Guess?, Inc., use Guess? jeans (with question mark and l.c. jeans) in all references to jeans

Hewlett-Packard, or HP (not H-P)

Hilton Hotels Corp., Beverly Hills

The Home Depot (OK to refer to as Home Depot)

Hughes Electronics Corp., NO LONGER EXISTS—was based in El Segundo and owned by General Motors Corp. Became DirecTV.

IPO - an initial public offering of stock - a company sells stock to the public for the first time. Ramifications include the fact that a company is now owned by its shareholders and subject to public and regulatory scrutiny

JCPenney (stores); J.C. Penney (corporation)

JetBlue

Kaufman and Broad Home Corp.

K-B Toys (as of 1998, says AP)

Kmart Corp.

L.A. Gear Inc., based in SANTA MONICA (note: it moved offices from near Marina del Rey)

Mac Frugal's Bargains - Close-outs Inc. (Dominguez-based, formerly Pic `N' Save Corp., still owns the Pic `N' Save stores)

MacIntosh (the computer)

MagneTek Inc. (electrical equipment manufacturer in West L.A.)

Marie Callender's

Mattel Inc. based in El Segundo

Mazda Motor of America Inc.

Merrill Lynch acceptable in all references for Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc.

Mervyns -- out of business at the end of 2008.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. - its two movie production units are MGM Pictures Inc. and United Artists Pictures. It is based in Santa Monica.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

Montgomery Ward and Co. NO LONGER EXISTS

Nasdaq - is no longer an acronym (as of Aug. 20, 1993). On first reference, the correct name is The Nasdaq Stock Market. On second reference, Nasdaq alone suffices. The Nasdaq Stock Market is made up of the National Market System (NMS) which is what the Daily Breeze publishes each day, and the Small Cap (Capitalization) Market, made up of the smaller companies, which we do not publish. Nasdaq has three components: national market, which is the main one with the large/medium companies; small caps market, for smaller companies w/strong market potential; and the bulletin board.

net earnings - see net income

net income - In general: sum remaining after all expenses have been met or deducted; syynonymous with net earnings and with net profit or net loss depending on whether the figure is positive or negative. For a company: The difference between total sales and total costs and expense. Net income after taxes is the bottom line referred to in popular vernacular. It is out of this figure (net income) that dividends normally are paid. For an individual: your gross income less expenses incurred to produce gross income. Those expensees are mostly deductible for tax purposes.

Nissan Motor Corp. U.S.A. (FORMERLY Carson based), U.S. sales and marketing headquarters for Japan-based Nissan. (see Nissan North America Inc)

Nissan North America Inc. (FORMERLY Carson-based), Parent company to Nissan Motor Corp U.S.A. (see above). Also includes all other Nissan interests.

Nordstrom (not Nordstrom's)

Northrop Grumman Corp. (no hyphen), based in Century City.

Nutra-System Inc.

Occidental Petroleum Corp., Westwood (Oxy OK in A headline crunch on the business pages)

OTC - Over-The-Counter market for trading stocks electronically vs. the physical stock exchanges

located in New York, Los Angeles and various other regional sites. The Nasdaq Stock Market is just one of the OTC markets. The terms are not synonymous.

PacBell, PacTel - Pacific Bell is the main subsidary of Pacific Telesis Corp. of San Francisco and provides local phone services. Headlines: PacBell and PacTel are acceptable. Copy: PacBell and PacTel are acceptable, but only after a first reference to Pacific Bell and Pacific Telesis Corp. respectively; PacBell/Pacific Bell and PacTel/Pacific Telesis can be used interchangeably in copy, again after first reference requirement has been met.

Pic `N' Save (yes, apostrophies point in “wrong” direction, ie NOT toward the missing letters; technically, the 2nd apostrophe should have the ball at the bottom and face inward but we can't do that) OUT OF BUSINESS, we believe

PLC - used under British law, this is an acronym (that's why we're going with an all-upper-case

style) for public limited company. To be designated a PLC, a company must various conditions

spelled out under the law (source: Britain 1993, An Official Handbook from Breeze library)

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Quarterdeck Corp. is based in Del Rey (cq!) just east of Marina del Rey. But change it to Marina del Rey.

Ralphs

Re/Max Realtors (revised in 2005)

Rite Aid

Robinsons-May

Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles - Located in Torrance, it is the West Coast office for the international ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi International. Among other well known accounts, it handles Toyota, and came up with its ™Everydayš campaign. In January 1998, it changed its name from Saatchi & Saatchi Pacific to Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles. Also, Team One Advertising, which is in El Segundo, is also owned by Saatchi & Saatchi International, so if Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles and Team One are mentioned in the same story, we call them sister agencies.

Sav-on

sell-off

Southern California Gas. Co. (second reference: Southern California Gas, The Gas. Co are acceptable)

Southern California Edison Co. (“Co.” is optional, but not incorrect) a subsidiary of Edison International (10/97, AS)

Starbucks Corp. (no apostrophe) of Seattle and its unit, Starbucks Coffee Co.

start-up (noun and adj.)

Stock quotations - use decimals and dollar signs, rather than fractions. eg., $10.125 rather than 10. Both NYTimes and Wall St. Journal use this style; AP occasionally uses a hybrid that we should avoid: $10.12. (5/20/97, SRT)

Team One Advertising - Located in El Segundo, it is owned by Saatchi & Saatchi International (see Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles entry). If Team One and Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles and Team one are mentioned in the same story or item, we call them sister agencies.

Ticketmaster

Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce

TRW (Space and Defense operations), Redondo Beach. See TRW Inc.

Toyota Motor Corp., Japan. Parent company to ...

Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc. (of Torrance), U.S. sales and marketing headquarters for Japanese parent. The Inc. is not required.

Toys R Us (per AP 2008)

TRW Inc. – NO LONGER EXISTS as an aerospace company. Now part of Northrop Grumman. The former name of the Redondo Beach unit was TRW Space & Electronics Group.

U S West Inc. (note: space, but no periods). No longer exists.

Walgreens

Warner Bros.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Yahoo