war - Gulf War or Persian Gulf War (style changed to upper case 3/93). As of 4/2004, AP had not settled on a “name” for the 2003 Iraq war.

War on Terror, but war on terrorism, war on terrorists, etc.

Warner Bros.

Washington, D.C., (yes, needs comma after D.C. if in midsentence). Specify D.C. in all cases, even if there is no Washington state nearby to get confused with.

Watts riots

Wayfarers Chapel

John Wayne Cancer Institute at St. John's Hospital and Health Center

Web log, or simply blog

Web cam

Web site (contrary to Webster’s)

West Basin (Port of L.A.)

West Nile virus

Westside (Los Angeles and Long Beach)

whale-watching, whale-watchers, whale-watch programs - These never appear as one word unless they are used as proper names such as in the title of a particular program or event.

whistlestop (one word as per AP 10/92)

White Point

a who’s who (unless referring specifically to one of the books)

"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"

-wide - no hyphen (as per AP: statewide, citywide, etc.)

Wi-Fi

Williams' Book Store (San Pedro)

wine-tasting

witches’ brew

WMD - for weapons of mass destruction is acceptable for now in a news headline IN A SQUEEZE only. 6/03

World Wide Web / Web (also see AP Stylebook Internet Guide, Internet) - An information space on the Internet, unified by a common addressing system and distinguished by documents capable of being linked from one computer to another. As of 2/98, Web, the Web are allowed on first and all ensuing references (and definitely in headlines).

work force

workers' compensation (logic similar to teachers' pay -- the compensation is tangible)

workload

workplace

worshiping

workstation

Works Progress Administration (WPA acceptable on second reference) - New Deal agency that hired unemployed artists during the Depression

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Y                                                                                           

Yahoo (the ! was dropped 3/07 to conform with AP style)

year 2000 - we depend on the context when determining whether "the year" 2000 is needed; if it's clear within a passage that you're talking about the year 2000, "the year" is not needed. If, however, it's not clear or if it's contained in a sentence with other numbers, it's probably necessary. Example where it's necessary: "Both Edison and the DWP planned to cut the emissions by 10 percent by the year 2000 and 20 percent by 2010." (note it's not necessary to repeat "the year" for the second reference to a specific year)

Year 2000, Y2K when referring to the computer glitch: The Year 2000 problem, the Y2K glitch

yearlong

year-round ("We travel year-round"; "Lake Copley is a year-round resort.")

year-round school terms: multitrack; single track (n.) or single-track (adj.)

Yellow Pages (no quotation marks, not ital)

Yugoslavia (as of 2/25/93) - Serbia and Montenegro are Yugoslavia's only remaining republics after four others declared independence. Those four independents are: Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Who's Who and what they want (from AP 8/1/95) - Some of this is outdated but remains for reference

CROATIAN SERBS - Serbs control a large stretch of southern Croatia, a chunk of territory south of the capital, Zagreb, and a piece of far eastern Croatia, bordering the Danube River and Serbia. They rebelled in 1991, saying they were afraid that an independent Croatia would repeat the slaughter of Serbs that took place under a Nazi

puppet state in World War II. They vow never to live under Croatian rule. Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia are under pressure from Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, the most powerful leader in Serb-dominated Yugoslavia, to make peace. As a result, they have begun cooperating on the battlefield and talking about unifying the territory that they control.

CROATIAN GOVERNMENT: Croatia lost a third of its territory to a Serb rebellion in 1991, when the republic declared its independence from the old Yugoslavia. It wants that territory back. Early this year, it ordered peacekeepers out of Croatia, but then relented under Western pressure. On May 1, it launched a surprise offensive and retook the most vulnerable of four pieces of Serb-held land. Croatia has said it reserves the right to take other pieces of Serb-held land by force, and has been massing troops near Serb-held territory in possible preparation for an offensive.

BOSNIAN SERBS: They control about two-thirds of Bosnia after three years of war. They have been isolated by the world community and Serbia for refusing an international peace plan. Their political leader, Radovan Karadzic, and military leader, Gen. Ratko Mladic, have been indicted by U.N. war crimes prosecutors on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Now that they have lost Milosevic's open sponsorship, the Bosnian Serb leadership's goal is to hang on to as much of Bosnia as possible with the idea of forming a ``Greater Serbia'' at some time in the future.

BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT: The government is led by Muslims but also represents Serbs and Croats who have remained loyal to its ideal of a multiethnic society. It is intent on getting as much land back from the Serbs as possible. Its army is improving, and despite an international embargo, is getting shipments of arms. It has slowly been taking back bits of territory, but does not appear strong enough to hand the Serbs major defeats. Last year, the government reluctantly accepted an international plan that would give it and its Croat allies 51 percent of Bosnia, and the Serbs 49 percent.

YUGOSLAVIA: Two republics, Serbia and Montenegro, remain of six that once made up the Yugoslav federation. Economic sanctions were imposed three years ago for Yugoslavia's support of Serb insurgents in Bosnia and Croatia. Milosevic is trying to get the sanctions lifted. The international community is demanding that he recognize Bosnia and Croatia, effectively ending the dream of a Greater Serbia that ignited the Serb

insurgencies in those two republics. Milosevic is trying to find a formula for complying without antagonizing nationalists so much that they endanger his rule.

BOSNIAN CROATS: Concentrated in the center and west of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croats fought the Bosnian government for about a year before agreeing to form a federation in March 1994. Since then, they have on occasion fought alongside the Bosnian army against the Serbs. But the federation is far from stable, and the Croats

appear mostly concerned about ensuring that they control territory where they were the

majority before the war.

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Zaire (see Congo)

Zeros in – (As in: Clinton zeros in on tunafish)