While the media landscape has seen several shifts in the last few years alone, the Associated Press has largely remained the same. One of the biggest assets the news service lays claim to is its style guide, which many outlets — including even this one — often do their best to adhere to.
That’s made the Associated Press’ AP Stylebook social media account a must-follow for many in the industry. But the typically benign account raised more than a few eyebrows on Friday when it posted a curious — if not downright condescending — reminder regarding the use of informal terminology in sports.
“A team losing a game is not a ‘disaster.’ Home runs are homers, not ‘dingers,’ ‘jacks’ or ‘bombs,'” the account wrote. “A player scored 10 straight points, not 10 ‘unanswered’ points. If a football team scores two touchdowns and the opponent doesn’t come back, say it ‘never trailed’ rather than ‘never looked back.’
“In short, avoid hackneyed words and phrases, redundancies and exaggerations.”
A team losing a game is not a “disaster.”
Home runs are homers, not “dingers,” “jacks” or “bombs.”
A player scored 10 straight points, not 10 “unanswered” points.
If a football team scores two touchdowns and the opponent doesn’t come back, say it “never trailed” rather than…— APStylebook (@APStylebook) October 25, 2024
Unsurprisingly, the post was met with immediate pushback, as evidenced by the more than 1,000 replies and nearly 2,000 reposts it received. The biggest criticisms were the Associated Press’ uptight approach to covering sports, with many noting that the outlet doesn’t even follow the very style guide rules it was touting.
As pointed out in community notes that are now attached to the post, there are multiple examples of the AP using “hackneyed words and phrases, redundancies and exaggerations.” That includes a story referring to a loss in soccer as a “disaster,” one calling consecutive football scored by the same team as “unanswered” and even a story from earlier this month replacing “home runs” with “dingers.”
The horror.
Ultimately, the AP remains invaluable as one of the few sources of news that’s nearly universally agreed upon as reputable (although it hasn’t been without controversy). But when it comes to the outlet’s sports style guide, it could stand to be less condescending, hypocritical, and frankly, hoity toity.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some dingers to write about.
Update: It appears the AP Stylebook has relented on “unanswered.” “Disaster,” “dingers,” “jacks” and “bombs” still appear to be a no-go.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.