It's a question of style
Welcome to the ever-changing world of words
Kevin McCreeth
Those who know me will know that I hold firm views on matters of style, whether it’s the correct way to care for selvedge or why adidas will always trump Nike. But when it comes to the workplace, style, for me, is an altogether more fluid affair.
Let me explain.
As a sub-editor by trade, I have always had a style book within arms reach. The time was that every publication you went to had a Style Guide that told writers (as if they ever bothered to check it) and subs the correct way to write everything from numbers, to dates, to tricky celeb names. Depending on the magazine, the style guide was fun – in the case of heat, downright funny thanks to @davidhepworth – or merely comprehensively informative.
The guide set the tone for the magazine and woe betide the writer who dared to veer from the path. Heated arguments would erupt between writers and subs desks over the smallest transgressions.
Everyone has their pet grammar (or is it grammer?) peeves; maybe you hate it when someone uses ‘try and’, or maybe your blood boils, literally, when a word is used incorrectly (see me later for guidance on either of these points).
Historically, I’ve never had a problem with holding people to account on these rules, but lately, perhaps with the fading away of print, I have found myself softening over such issues as the correct placement of commas. If it helps the reader follow your line of thought, it’s probably correct. And anyway, language is always evolving. Sure, there are still rules; I’m not mad keen on text speak, even in texts tbf, and using the right word in the right context will always be non-negotiable.
The grey area comes when popular usage overwrites traditional usage. Recently, the guardian of The FT’s Style Guide decreed that a change had to be made to reflect the modern idiom. ‘Data’, it declared, was now singular rather than plural.
It may not sound like a big change, but which of these is correct to you?
a) The data is clear; Liverpool is the best football team ever, or, b) The data are clear; Liverpool are the best football team ever
Obviously the facts are irrefutable when it comes to LFC; ignoring the ‘teams’ banana skin and the outmoded use of a semi-colon, the issue here is whether data should be plural or singular. Traditionalists and classic scholars will tell you it is plural (data are…), but you won’t have to look far before you see it used as a singular; the debate has raged for years, and bastions of facts such as The FT would be turned to to settle any arguments. So when a title such as The FT changes its Style Guide it’s big news.
But is it, really? Language is constantly (continually?, Ed) evolving as people change the way they use words. No one says ‘forthsooth’ any longer; it’s passed out of our language since the days when Shakespeare ruled the roost. Why should we in the 21st century rigidly hold on to grammatical rules set, effectively, by the Romans? It’s just progress, innit…
Really, these rules are there to be broken. The only correct use of language is the one that will make most sense to your client’s target audience. The rest is merely a good way of starting an argument. So please feel free to share your pet hates, just don’t expect me to stand shoulder to shoulder with you to protect them.
