cabbie

California Highway Patrol (and Highway Patrol)

Cal-OSHA (acceptable on first and all references as long as story makes a clear inference as to what the body is/does; full name is California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (revised 3/19/96)

California, regions

Central California

Central Coast (The area of California stretching from north of Santa Barbara to south of San Francisco Bay Area; includes San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, San Simeon, etc.)

Northern California

Southern California

CalPIRG - Stands for California Public Interest Research Group

Caltrans - Acronym for California Department of Transportation. We do not have to use the long version on first reference but the long version must be included somewhere in the article. Caltrans acceptable on following references.

Cancer stages – we'll go with stage 1, stage 2, etc.

car pool (n.); car-pool plan/project/etc. (adj.)

carpooling – one word

carat/karat - carat is a unit of weight for precious stones and jewels; equal to 200 milligrams karat refers to the percentage of gold in a metal: 24 karat gold is pure gold (14 karat gold is 14 parts pure gold and 10 parts alloy)

card room - hyphenated when it's a compound modifier as in card-room legislation

carjack/carjacking/carjacker

carjack v. “The suspect attempted to carjack Smedley's 1983 Pontiac.”; “His auto was carjacked two months ago.”

carjacking n. “Theopolis was the victim of two carjackings in the past three months.”

carjacker n. “The confessed carjacker was sentenced to 20 years in prison.”

Note: a person cannot be carjacked but can be a victim of a carjacking; a car can be carjacked but it’s better to use “vehicle” or “auto” (or van, truck, etc.) to avoid redundancy: “The vehicle had been seized in a carjacking three months earlier.”

Susan Carpenter McMillan (no hyphen)

CAT scan is no longer used; pls see CT scan

Catalina Island - Acceptable on first and all references, although official name is Santa Catalina Island. Catalina is fine in headlines.

CBS'

CD-ROM - compact disc on which computer data can be stored and accessed (ROM=read only memory)

CD titles - see composition titles

Cels - a single frame of an animated film

Census

Cap U.S. Census, Census Bureau, Census 2010

undercounts

Center/Centre - in proper nouns ONLY, keep the spelling as is. Do not automatically change Centre to Center as AP so woefully dictated until we, the oppressed, overthrew them.

CEO - OK in headlines and stories for chief executive officer. OK in text if context makes clear. Do not use COO or CFO in headlines, or abbreviate them in stories.

chairman/chairwoman - do not use chairperson; do not use chair as a noun - you can use it as a verb, but sparingly. If an event is being coordinated by a man and a woman, try to write around the situation: (“Coordinating the event were Co-Chairman Dick Tracy and Co-Chairwoman Brenda Star.”)

charter (see city charter)

chiropractor - refer to as “Crack Hemmingway, chiropractor” (NOT doctor of chiropractic medicine)

CHP - acceptable on second reference; use California Highway Patrol on first reference. Can use state Highway Patrol for relief

childproofing

children IDs – also see entry on teenage IDs. Children under 13 can generally be identified by first name on second reference. At 13 and above, our informal policy is that first names can be used in featury stories. Use common sense based on the content. Note that Sports, which is providing coverage on a different frequency and level, may not follow this style.

Chinese fire drill - Unacceptable in all cases in narrative; if someone you're interviewing has used the phrase, you'll need the approval of the editor or associate editor before it can run.

Cho - Please note that in all material, The AP is now referring to the Virginia Tech gunman as Seung-Hui Cho instead of Cho Seung-Hui, per the family's preference.

chocoholic (based on spelling of alcoholic)

chord (see cord)

Chung, Johnny (Democratic Party donor from Torrance; not sure if he still lives here) – We can refer to him in any of these ways, choose whichever is most relevant:

Chung, a Torrance businessman,

Chung, a Torrance entrepreneur,

More specifics about Chung’s business (may be outdated but fyi):

Chung, the founder of Automated Intelligent Systems Inc. in Torrance,

Chung is the founder of Automated Intelligent Systems Inc. in Torrance which provides a

service for faxing information to thousands of recipients simultaneously,

Chung, who operates a seven-employee fax broadcasting company in Torrance.

More specifics about his political activities: (outdated but fyi)

During a two-year period from 1994 to 1996, Chung donated $366,000 to the Democratic National

Party. During that same period, he visited the White House nearly 50 times, having his photo taken with President Clinton and giving his guests Ð frequently high-ranking Chinese business officials – personal tours.

Church of the Nativity (Bethlehem)

CitiCABLE (Torrance) – seek an alternative in headlines if possible

city charter - Capitalize only when it appears as a complete entity and so includes the city's name, as in

Redondo Beach City Charter. Make it lower case in all other references, ie the city charter, the city's charter, the Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach city charters.

City Councils/City & County Departments - If city/county is clear, keep city/county departments (city council, police, fire, city attorney, etc.) upper case. Examp: “The Santa Monica Police Department today selected mauve uniforms ... The Police Department made the announcement ...”. “The City Council voted today to allow small frogs in the council's chambers...”)

If generic, do not capitalize (“The report surveyed 750 police departments around the country.”)

Don't repeat “city” with cities that have “City” in the name: Culver City Council (not Culver City City Council), Culver City Hall

City Hall IF the city has been named.

city of ... (not City of Los Angeles)

CityWalk (pls use Universal CityWalk) - a shopping and restaurant attraction at Universal Studios

civil-rights advocate/protester/etc. (hyphenate the compound modifier)

Class of 2001 (it's a formal group so Class is uppercase)

Clean Trucks Program; Clean Trucks fee (implying it's part of the formal program); the port now has clean trucks.

Clinton, Hillary Rodham - her preference to use all three names on first reference (1/20/93). 2nd reference: If the story is primarily about Bill, please use Mrs. Clinton (as per AP). She can be called the former first lady if appropriate to the context. Headlines: She can be called Clinton, Sen. Clinton depending on context. Use "Hillary" only for features, Insight pieces, etc.

cloud nine (no caps, no numeral)

coach - When it's Coach Phil Jackson, cap coach. When it's Lakers coach Phil Jackson, leave it down. Contrary to AP style but consistent with our Sports style

co-dependent/co-dependency

coed -- when referring to a female student, DO NOT USE (term deemed condescending and inappropriate; use student); acceptable as abbreviated adjective for coeducational as in coed campus

coffeehouse

Colleges/Universities

California Institute of Technology (Caltech on second reference); it is located in Pasadena

Caltech Seismology Laboratory

California State University, Dominguez Hills (Cal State Dominguez Hills on second reference, or CSU Dominguez Hills)

(Same style for most other CSU campuses, such as:

California State University, Fullerton

PT: Cal State Long Beach

Breeze: California State University, Long Beach (first reference)

California State University, Los Angeles

California State University, Northridge

San Diego State University

California State Polytechnic University (Pomona)

California Polytechnic State University (San Luis Obispo)

Check Web sites if unsure. For example, it's San Jose State University as an exception

Loyola Marymount University (Westchester) (LMU second reference)

Pepperdine University (based in Malibu)

Santa Monica College

University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley on second reference)

Same style for other UC campuses, such as:

University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine)

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA on first reference)

University of California, Santa Barbara

University of Southern California (USC on first reference)

El Camino College

Colleges, Community

El Camino College (near Torrance)

Long Beach City College (LBCC on second reference)

Los Angeles Harbor College (Wilmington) (Harbor College on second reference)

Santa Monica College

West Los Angeles College (Culver City) (not West L.A. Community College or West L.A. College)

come-on (an inviting look or gesture; an enticement, a swindle)

comic strips -- use quote marks (“Dilbert”)

Cmdr. Frank Suraci – for police titles

compact disc players, discs

company/firm (see firm)

composition titles

Bible, Quran, Book of Mormon, etc. - NO italics

Books -- quotes (even if they are “books on tape” or books on laser disk for computers) (in a headline, use single quotes on title)

catalogs – no quotes -- unless the catalog has a formal name: the Sears Book of Wow.

comic books – no quotes

newsletters – no quotes

online publications - No quote marks if it isn't a legitimate print publication. For example: The online edition of “Time.” But the Blue Waitress Report. till further notice.

magazines – no quotes

reference books – no quotes (ignore AP stylebook on this)

reports -

movies - quotation marks

plays - quotation marks

short stories - quotation marks

songs - quotation marks

TV shows - quotation marks

Specific exceptions: Yellow Pages (no quotation marks or italics)

HEADLINES: Magazine and newspapers do NOT get quote marks. EXCEPTION: If the title of the publication used in a headline would cause confusion, use single quote marks: It’s the best ‘Time’ I’ve ever had, author says.

Phony titles or not-yet published works: Do what you’d do with an actual publication or theatrical title ( quote marks). But be sure via context that it’s clear the work has not been published or that the name has simply been made up.

Computer/electronic: software programs (Quark, Quicken, etc.) take neither ital nor quotes; purely online periodicals, books and reference books should NOT be in ital; computer games should go w/out quotes or italics just like board games, even when they're quoting a movie or other medium that would take quotes/itals (ie Star Trek Fantasy game).

computer disk, diskettes

condominium - in first reference in body copy, spell out; second and ensuing references can abbreviate to condo. condo acceptable in headlines and captions.

Congo, Democratic Republic of - Beginning 5/20/97, the AP will use ``Congo'' in stories and datelines to refer to the country formerly known as Zaire. The new leadership in that country has formally named it the

Democratic Republic of the Congo; we will use ``Congo'' for brevity. Congo's smaller neighbor, Republic of Congo, will be referred to by that name. Headlines: “Congo” acceptable in headlines for when referring to developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo and/or its capital. Must use “Congo Republic” when referring to developments in the neighboring Republic of Congo.

Congo, Republic of (see above)

ConocoPhillips

“Contract With America”

contractor's license / contractors' licenses

Contributing to this article... - Contributing to this article were staff writers Jane Doe and Ima Jerk. (key points are use of “article” not “story” and use of “staff writers” before the name not after in case there is a long string of names)

COO - (chief operating officer). Avoid as an abbreviation in headlines and text. See CEO

Cop - Permissible in headlines and text, but consider the context. Police officer, officer may be more appropriate if an officer has died, for example.

Copley/Breeze – The Breeze was sold to the Hearst Corp. to be operated by MediaNews Group on Dec. 15, 2006. In 2007, the Breeze became wholly owned by MediaNews. The name Copley Los Angeles Newspapers was dropped after closure of The Outlook and the News-Pilot, but was brought back when More San Pedro, the Beach Reporter and the Palos Verdes Peninsula News were added to the lineup.

Daily Breeze - That's the full name of the newspaper. It's italicized and spelled out like that on first reference in any usage (except headlines): story, promo box, whatever. Subsequent references in the same item should be “the Breeze.”

Note: the “The” was dropped in May 1997

If you're running a story mentioning The San Diego Union-Tribune or one of the other Copley newspapers and there’s some reason to make a link to the Breeze, add: “which is published by The Copley Press, Inc., owner of the Daily Breeze.” (Although the organization is sometime referred to as Copley Newspapers, that is NOT a formal name.)

The Copley Press – as of 5/08 is pretty much down to operations just in San Diego County). For background, here's info that was in effect 7/05) - The Copley Press is a privately held publishing and communications company based in La Jolla, Calif. It operates the nationally distributed Copley News Service and publishes 10 daily, nine weekly and one bi-weekly newspapers. The privately held company was founded in Illinois by Ira Clifton Copley, and remains an Illinois corporation.

Some of the company’s newspapers (including the Breeze) are published by unincorporated operating units; others are published by subsidiary corporations.

For names of other Copley newspapers, check the Web site www.copleynewspapers.com.

cord (as in vocal cord); chord (as in musical chord)

corporation: Use Corp. when used as part of a company name: as in, the Johnson Corp.

Council member, but councilman, councilwoman

counterterrorism

couple - Couple, when used to describe two persons, takes the plural verb (“The couple were married in the Jacuzzi.”).When used to describe a single unit, take the singular verb (“Each couple was asked to give $43,000 for the Republican event.”).

courtesy titles - Do not use Miss, Mr., Ms., Mrs. unless needed to avoid confusion (a story about both Dennis and Doris Day might refer to Day and Miss Day on second references)

With well-known couples, it's often a good idea to run title with the least prominent member of the couple, even if the spouse is not mentioned in the story. Example: story about Nancy Reagan ought to refer to her as Mrs. Reagan even if HE is not mentioned (seeing “Reagan” written automatically brings his face to mind for many).

courts

GENERAL: Capitalize each type of court whether or not it's tied to a specific district: Juvenile

Court, Small Claims Court, Traffic Court, Circuit Court. Capitalize Courthouse if a specific

courthouse is designated and does not have another name (see Torrance below). Otherwise, make

it courthouse, the courthouse, the courthouse in Torrance, etc.

SPECIFIC:

Culver Municipal Court (not Culver City)

Inglewood Municipal Court (includes Hawthorne)

Los Angeles Municipal Court

Los Angeles Superior Court

Malibu Municipal Court

Santa Monica Municipal Court

Santa Monica Superior Court

South Bay Municipal Court (includes Torrance, Gardena, the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Lomita and Lawndale; has Redondo Beach office as of 1/90). NOTE: do not say Torrance Municipal Court, there is no such animal.

Torrance Superior Court (shares offices with South Bay Municipal Court)

NOTE: About the building South Bay Municipal Court and Torrance Superior Court share... These courts meet in the Torrance courthouse -- courthouse is lowercase as it's not its proper name. For action that takes place outside the building or in halls on the first floor, just say “outside the Torrance courthouse”

Also, there is no need to allude to whether a trial took place in the main courthouse or the annex (unless there is a shooting or some other such site-specific occurrence)

California Courts of Appeal (state)

U.S. District Court, Los Angeles, or federal court (lowercase) in Los Angeles

West Los Angeles Municipal Court

U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

crack house (no quotation marks needed if it's clear in the article that it's a drug reference)

Craigslist

Craftsman - A style of architecture - and handmade furniture, art pottery and other home furnishings - which developed in England in the late 1800s as a reaction to the fussy, overblown Victorian design movement and to the sterile Industrial Revolution. This design is officially part of the Arts and Crafts Movement, thus the upper-case Craftsman. The furniture can also be known as mission style (but mission architecture, which incorporates elements of the California missions, is very different from Craftsman architecture).

Credits, photo – for handout art, run no credit BUT in caption say something like “in a photo supplied by…”

Criminal nicknames -In most cases, all caps, no quote marks: the Night Stalker

Croatia - see Yugoslavia

CT scan - Formerly known as CAT scan; stands for computerized to mography; acceptable to use CT scan in early reference(s) but complete name should be spelled out somewhere in the story.

cyber- (as first half of compound noun) cyberspace, cyberpunk, cybersavvy, cyberclunker...do not use hyphens

curbside (no hyphen, as in seaside)

Czechoslovakia - Effective 1/1/93, the country has split into: Czech Republic and Slovakia

Daily Breeze (“the” was dropped in spring 1997). Takes italics in text but not in headlines. - Also see Copley/Daily Breeze

Final work day at Torrance Boulevard office was Fri. 1/30/09. The new address is:

Daily Breeze

South Bay Tower

21250 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 170

Torrance, CA 90503

Final work day for the Daily Breeze/Press-Telegram copy desks at the Hawthorne Boulevard office of the Daily Breeze was Sunday April 19, 2009. News, sports, features copy desks were relocated to a consolidated desk at the San Gabriel Valley Tribune building in West Covina beginning Monday April 20, 2009

D.A. (District Attorney) -Use periods in the Breeze.

Daniels Field

Datelines - Do not use datelines needed for stories originating in any city in L.A. County or Orange County; stories from all other cities (including those in Riverside and Ventura counties) take one. When datelines are deleted, be sure to name of city is inserted in lead grafs.

dates

Events -- Events appearing within a week of the announcement should use the day and not the date

Events published on, say, a Wednesday which are taking place the following Wednesday should say: (“George Bush will speak on the importance of puppies at 3 p.m. next Wednesday at ... “) An event occurring the next Thursday would take a date (and not in combination with the day), however.

Davies, d'Lisa (LAFD spokesperson) (lower case d on d'Lisa)

day care (n.), day-care (adj.) - Webster's Fourth says day care is not hyphenated when used as a noun. It IS hyphenated when used as an adjective, such as: day-care center.

daylong (adj., adv.)

decade long

decimals - Example from AP Stylebook: 0.08 percent

degrees –

Academic: bachelor of science, master of arts, etc.

Weather: See AP Stylebook

Food copy: spell out the word "degrees" (Ex.: Heat the lard to 230 degrees)

del; de - In street names: Playa del Redondo, de La Conch Shell (but cap if at the start of a sentence:

De La Conch Shell is a pretty street.) Marina del Rey but Del Rey (see below)

Del Rey - A Westside community bounded by Marina del Rey, Westchester, Culver City and Mar Vista.

Delta – cap when referring to the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta;

delta smelt

deputy (see job titles)

Dewitt, Vera Robles Dewitt

dimensions (add these to those in AP stylebook)

4-story building

3-acre park

dinner-dance

disabled

blind -- say blind

deaf -- say deaf

developmental disabilities -- includes both physical and mental disabilities that involve a lag or delay in development, things that could potentially go away

neurological disabilities -- includes cerebral palsey, Downs syndrome, etc., are permanent

disabilities

physical disabilities -- can be accidental or congenital

other options: physically disabled from birth; born without the use of...born without the

ability to ...

district - We now follow the AP Stylebook, so use numerals for district numbers under 10. “In the 4th District, the supervisor is ...”

For local districts, see LAWMAKERS in B-INFORM basket

For communities, it’s down – as in Westlake district

Doctor - Follow rules for use in AP stylebook. In informal contexts (such as a doctor being contact person for more info for a bake-off), however, use of title is unnecessary.

domain names - The names in an e-mail address that precede the dot-com. As in "aol.com" for America Online or "well.com" for The Well. These names identify the source of the e-mail, the home base of the user. (also see Internet Protocol Address entry)

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (not Chandler Pavilion)

do's and don'ts

dot-com

Douglas Aircraft Co. (see McDonnell Douglas)

downed – avoid referring to an aircraft that crashed as a “downed” aircraft unless it was brought down by bombs, rockets, etc. (Its akin to the AP style entry on drowned)

Downtown Long Beach (Press-Telegram) (per John Futch), but downtown by itself ("the new stores will open downtown."

drive-by (as in shooting)

drive-through window

driver's license / drivers' licenses

Dumpster - this is a trademark so please do not use unless you're sure; try trash bin instead

DVD