Lists: Business names

Style on the Go archiveUncategorized

July 11, 2002: Issue 29

Update 9/14/17: See Punctuation/Commas and company names.

SIM STYLE: What parts of business names should I abbreviate?
Always abbreviate Co., Cos. (Companies), and Corp. Also abbreviate Inc., Ltd., and LLC, and set them off with commas.
correct: The Sherwin-Williams Co.
correct: Brown Cos.
correct: Meredith Corp.
correct: Hi-Lite Manufacturing Co., Inc.
correct: Grohe America, Inc.
correct: Duralee Fabrics, Ltd.
correct: Architectural Products by Outwater, LLC

Write out all other words, including Industries, International, and Manufacturing.

Note: Words that are part of a company’s proper name (such as The Company Store or The Limited, Inc.) are not abbreviated.

GRAMMAR: Is it “hone in” or “home in”?
It’s “home in.” You can hone a skill, but if you’re setting your sights on something, you’re homing in on it. Think of homing pigeons when you see this phrase, and you’ll never confuse the two words again.

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Web Tips: Wikipedia

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February 15, 2007: Issue 177

Wikipedia can be a great help when you run across a name, place, or term you’ve never heard before. It can give 

Wikipedia can be a great help when you run across a name, place, or term you’ve never heard before. It can give you enough information to lead you to a definitive source—but don’t rely on Wikipedia as your primary source. Anyone can write and edit these entries, so mistakes do show up.

A recent Wikipedia search for Consuelo Bailey, for instance, told us that she was the first woman lieutenant governor in the United States, serving in that office in Vermont from 1955 to 1959. A visit to Vermont’s official Web site confirmed that fact—but Wikipedia listed her middle name as Northrop, while the Vermont site said Northrup.

The Wikipedia entry for Sharpie used to say that “Magic Marker and Sharpie are both generic brand names used for medium-tip markers.” Wrong. They’re both trademarks. (That entry has since been updated.)

In short, use Wikipedia as a starting point, but check your facts with a more reliable reference.

And about that name: Wiki means fast in Hawaiian, so Wikipedia was coined to mean fast encyclopedia. According to Wikipedia itself, wiki is acceptable as a generic term for a collaborative reference source or for the software that helps compile it: a wiki site, a wiki engine. But then again, we have no idea who wrote that.

Fun download: To hear Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales answer questions about odd, obscure information on his Web site (and to hear him promise that the name has nothing to do with polytheistic religions), click here and download Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me! from November 4, 2006.

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Photo Credits: Photo credits II

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February 28, 2002: Issue 12

SIM STYLE: Photographer credits

We’ve been mangling quite a few photographer credits lately. Here are the correct credits for the ones that are most commonly mixed up:
Kim Cornelison
D. Randolph Foulds
Bob Greenspan
Hopkins Associates
Tim Murphy
Greg Scheidemann

If you don’t have an updated credits list in your SIM Stylebok contact Doug.

For more photographer credits see Issues 20, 26, 63.

GRAMMAR: Is it “all of” or just “all”?
Your eighth-grade English teacher who told you it was correct to take out the “of” was right. She just may not have told you there’s also nothing wrong with leaving it in. So choose whichever way sounds best to you—you can’t go wrong. As author Patricia O’Conner, an editor at The New York Times,says on the subject: “You can’t please all of the people all the time.”

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Identifications: Professional certifications

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September 27, 2007: Issue 206

In general, lowercase professional designations:
certified kitchen designer
certified diabetes educator
certified public accountant

However, capitalize the associated acronyms:
CKD
CDE
CPA

Exceptions to the lowercase rule:
Realtor (because the term is trademarked)
Master Gardener (to avoid confusion with master as an adjective meaning skilled)

A blog after our own hearts: Check out Bethany Keeley, who chronicles the gratuitous use of quotation marks. Her collection of passive-aggressive notes is fun, too.

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Possessives: Possessives I

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March 21, 2002: Issue 15

SIM STYLE: Is it “oil-based” or “oil-base” paint?
Oil-base paint and water-base paint, without the “ed,” are both correct.

GRAMMAR: How do I handle possessives for proper names
that end in “s”?
Simply add an apostrophe to the end. For the plural possessive form of
a name that ends in “s,” add an “es” followed by an apostrophe.
     incorrect: Jeffrey Marks’s house
correct: Jeffrey Marks’ house
correct:  The Markses’ house

One exception: Foreign words that end in a silent “s” take an apostrophe and an additional “s” in the possessive form.
correct: Des Moines’s only loft-style apartments

For more information, see Possessives section in the SIM Stylebook.

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Commonly Confused Word Pairs: Cinch/clinch

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June 21, 2007: Issue 193

To cinch is to fasten tightly:
Pull the shoulder strap through the loop to cinch the bag shut.

To clinch is to settle or to make final:
They were already considering a move to a bigger home. News that a third child was on the way clinched their decision.

If you have trouble remembering this one, think of Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, and David Spade as Gap clerks dispensing repetitive fashion advice on Saturday Night Live in the ’90s. (“Did you cinch it? You have to cinch it!”) Check them out. (We’re going to rate this clip TVPG. And let us know if you spot the typos on the “Gapardy” board.)

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