Dacron A trademark for a brand of polyester fiber

Dacron A trademark for a brand of polyester fiber.

dalai lama The traditional high priest of Lamaism, a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Mongolia. Dalai lama is a title rather than a name, but it is all that is used when referring to the man. Capitalize Dalai Lama in references to the holder of the title, in keeping with the principles outlined in the nobility entry.

Dallas The city in Texas stands alone in datelines.

Dalles, The A city in Oregon.

dam Capitalize when part of a proper name: Hoover Dam.

damage, damages Damage is destruction: Authorities said damage from the storm would total more than $1 billion.

Damages are awarded by a court as compensation for injury, loss, etc.: The woman received $25,000 in damages.

dame See nobility.

damn it Use instead of dammit, but like other profanity it should be avoided unless there is a compelling reason.

See the obscenities, profanities, vulgarities entry.

dangling modifiers Avoid modifiers that do not refer clearly and logically to some word in the sentence.

Dangling: Taking our seats, the game started. (Taking does not refer to the subject, game, nor to any other word in the sentence.)

Correct: Taking our seats, we watched the opening of the game. (Taking refers to we, the subject of the sentence.)

Danish pastry

Dardanelles, the Not the Dardanelles Strait.

Dark Ages The period beginning with the sack of Rome in A.D. 476 and ending about the end of the 10th century. The term is derived from the idea that this period in Europe was characterized by intellectual stagnation, widespread ignorance and poverty.

dark horse

dash See entry in the Punctuation chapter.

data A plural noun, it normally takes plural verbs and pronouns.

See the collective nouns entry, however, for an example of when data may take singular verbs and pronouns.

database One word, in keeping with widespread usage. The collection of all data used and produced by a computer program.

data processing (n. and adj.) Do not hyphenate the adjective.

date line Two words for the imaginary line that separates one day from another.

See the international date line entry.

datelines Datelines on stories should contain a city name, entirely in capital letters, followed in most cases by the name of the state, county or territory where the city is located.

DOMESTIC DATELINES: A list of domestic cities that stand alone in datelines follows. The norms that influenced the selection were the population of the city, the population of its metropolitan region, the frequency of the city’s appearance in the news, the uniqueness of its name, and experience that has shown the name to be almost synonymous with the state or nation where it is located.

No state with the following:

ATLANTA MILWAUKEE

BALTIMORE MINNEAPOLIS

BOSTON NEW ORLEANS

CHICAGO NEW YORK

CINCINNATI OKLAHOMA CITY

CLEVELAND PHILADELPHIA

DALLAS PHOENIX

DENVER PITTSBURGH

DETROIT ST. LOUIS

HONOLULU SALT LAKE CITY

HOUSTON SAN ANTONIO

INDIANAPOLIS SAN DIEGO

LAS VEGAS SAN FRANCISCO

LOS ANGELES SEATTLE

MIAMI WASHINGTON

Also HOLLYWOOD when used instead of LOS ANGELES on stories about films and the film industry.

Stories from all other U.S. cities should have both the city and state name in the dateline, including KANSAS CITY, Mo., and KANSAS CITY, Kan.

Spell out Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah. Abbreviate others as listed in this book under the full name of each state.

Use Hawaii on all cities outside Honolulu. Specify the island in the text if needed.

Follow the same practice for communities on islands within the boundaries of other states: EDGARTOWN, Mass., for example, not EDGARTOWN, Martha’s Vineyard.

REGIONAL CIRCUITS: On state wires, additional cities in a state or region may stand alone if requested by the newspapers served.

When this is done, provide a list to all offices in the region, to all newspapers affected and to New York headquarters.

U.S. POSSESSIONS: Apply the guidelines listed below in the ISLAND NATIONS AND TERRITORIES section and the OVERSEAS TERRITORIES section.

FOREIGN CITIES: These foreign locations stand alone in datelines:

BEIJING MONACO

BERLIN MONTREAL

DJIBOUTI MOSCOW

GENEVA OTTAWA

GIBRALTAR PANAMA CITY

GUATEMALA CITY PARIS

HAVANA QUEBEC

HONG KONG ROME

JERUSALEM SAN MARINO

KUWAIT SINGAPORE

LONDON TOKYO

LUXEMBOURG TORONTO

MACAU VATICAN CITY

MEXICO CITY

In addition, use UNITED NATIONS alone, without a N.Y. designation, in stories from U.N. headquarters.

CANADIAN DATELINES: Datelines on stories from Canadian cities other than Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec and Toronto should contain the name of the city in capital letters followed by the name of the province. Do not abbreviate any province or territory name.

COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES: For cities in the former Soviet Union, datelines include city and republic name: ALMA-ATA, Kazakh- stan.

OTHER FOREIGN NATIONS: Stories from other foreign cities that do not stand alone in datelines should contain the name of the country or territory (see the next section) spelled out.

SPELLING AND CHOICE OF NAMES: In most cases, the name of the nation in a dateline is the conventionally accepted short form of its official name: Argentina, for example, rather than Republic of Argentina. (If in doubt, look for an entry in this book. If none is found, follow Webster’s New World Dictionary.)

Note these special cases:

—Instead of United Kingdom, use England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.

—For divided nations, use the commonly accepted names based on geographic distinctions: North Korea, South Korea.

—Use an article only with El Salvador. For all others, use just a country name — Gambia, Netherlands, Philippines, etc.

See geographic names for guidelines on spelling the names of foreign cities and nations not listed here or in separate entries.

ISLAND NATIONS AND TERRI-TORIES: When reporting from nations and territories that are made up primarily of islands but commonly are linked under one name, use the city name and the general name in the dateline. Identify an individual island, if needed, in the text:

Examples:

British Virgin Netherlands Antilles

Islands Philippines

Indonesia

OVERSEAS TERRITORIES: Some overseas territories, colonies and other areas that are not independent nations commonly have accepted separate identities based on their geographic character or special status under treaties. In these cases, use the commonly accepted territory name after a city name in a dateline.

Examples:

Bermuda Guam

Corsica Martinique

Faeroe Islands Puerto Rico

Greenland Sardinia

Grenada Sicily

Guadeloupe Sikkim

Tibet

WITHIN STORIES: In citing other cities within the body of a story:

—No further information is necessary if a city is in the same state as the datelined city in U.S. stories from abroad. Make an exception if confusion would result.

—Follow the city name with further identification in most cases where it is not in the same state or nation as the dateline city. The additional identification may be omitted, however, if no confusion would result — there is no need, for example, to refer to Boston, Mass., in a story datelined NEW YORK.

—Provide a state or nation identification for the city if the story is undated. However, cities that stand alone in datelines may be used alone in undated stories if no confusion would result.

dateline selection A dateline should tell the reader that the AP obtained the basic information for the story in the datelined city.

Do not, for example, use a Washington dateline on a story written primarily from information that a newspaper reported under a Washington dateline. Use the home city of the newspaper instead.

This rule does not preclude the use of a story with a dateline different from the home city of a newspaper if it is from the general area served by the newspaper.

Use a foreign dateline only if the basic information in a story was obtained by a full- or part-time correspondent physically present in the datelined community.

If a radio broadcast monitored in another city was the source of information, use the dateline of the city where the monitoring took place and mention the fact in the story.

When a story has been assembled from sources in widely separated areas, use no dateline.

When a datelined story contains supplementary information obtained in another city, make that point clear in the context. Do not put parentheses around such material, however, unless the correspondent in the datelined community was cut off from incoming communications. Note the following examples:

—Material from another area was available in the datelined city:

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Wilson submitted his resignation today.

In Washington, a State Department spokesman said the change in government leadership would have no effect on negotiations involving the Common Market.

—Material from another area was not available to the correspondent in the dateline city because communications from the outside world were cut off:

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Khmer Rouge troops pushed into Phnom Penh today, barely hours after the United States ran down the Stars and Stripes and abandoned Cambodia to the Communists.

(In Washington, the State Department said Americans evacuated in a mass airlift had arrived safely aboard aircraft carriers and at bases in Thailand.)

dates Always use Arabic figures, without st, nd, rd or th. See months for examples and punctuation guidelines.

daughter-in-law, daughters-in-law

Daughters of the American Revolution DAR is acceptable on second reference.

Headquarters is in Washington.

daylight-saving time Not savings. Note the hyphen.

When linking the term with the name of a time zone, use only the word daylight: Eastern Daylight Time, Pacific Daylight Time, etc.

Lowercase daylight-saving time in all uses and daylight time whenever it stands alone.

A federal law, administered by the Transportation Department, specifies that daylight time applies from 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April until 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of October in areas that do not specifically exempt themselves.

See time zones.

daylong

days of the week Capitalize them. Do not abbreviate, except when needed in a tabular format: Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat (three letters, without periods, to facilitate tabular composition).

See time element.

daytime

day to day, day-to-day Hyphenate when used as a compound modifier: They have extended the contract on a day-to-day basis.

D-Day June 6, 1944, the day the Allies invaded Europe in World War II.

DDT Preferred in all references for the insecticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane.

de- See foreign particles.

deacon See the entry for the individual’s denomination.

dead center

dead end (n.) dead-end (adj.) She reached a dead end. He has a dead-end job.

Dead Sea Scrolls

deaf See disabled, handicapped, impaired.

deaf-mute Avoid the term. The preferred form is to say that an individual cannot hear or speak. A mute person may be deaf or may be able to hear.

Do not use deaf and dumb.

dean Capitalize when used as a formal title before a name: Dean John Jones, Deans John Jones and Susan Smith.

Lowercase in other uses: John Jones, dean of the college; the dean.

dean’s list Lowercase in all uses: He is on the dean’s list. She is a dean’s list student.

deathbed (n. and adj.)

decades Use Arabic figures to indicate decades of history. Use an apostrophe to indicate numerals that are left out; show plural by adding the letter s: the 1890s, the ’90s, the Gay ’90s, the 1920s, the mid-1930s.

See the historical periods and events entry.

December See months.

deci- A prefix denoting one-tenth of a unit. Move a decimal point one place to the left in converting to the basic unit: 15.5 decigrams = 1.55 grams.

decimal units Use a period and numerals to indicate decimal amounts. Decimalization should not exceed two places in textual material unless there are special circumstances.

See fractions.

Declaration of Independence Lowercase the declaration whenever it stands alone.

decorations See the awards and decorations entry.

Deepfreeze A trademark for a brand of home freezer.

If something is being postponed indefinitely, use two words: The project is in the deep freeze.

deep-sea (adj.)

Deep South Capitalize both words when referring to the region that consists of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina.

deep water (n.) deep-water (adj.) The creature swam in deep water. The ship needs a deep-water port.

defendant

defense Do not use it as a verb.

defense attorney Always lowercase, never abbreviate.

See attorney and titles.

defense spending Military spending usually is the more precise term.

definitely Overused as a vague intensifier. Avoid it.

degree-day See weather terms.

degrees See academic degrees.

deity Lowercase. See gods and religious references.

dek- (before a vowel), deka- (before a consonant) A prefix denoting 10 units of a measure. Move a decimal point one place to the right to convert to the basic unit: 15.6 dekameters = 156 meters.

Delaware Abbrev.: Del. Only Rhode Island is smaller in area.

See state names.

delegate The formal title for members of the lower houses of some legislatures. Do not abbreviate. Capitalize only before their names. See legislative titles.

Always lowercase in other uses: convention delegate Richard Henry Lee.

Delta Air Lines Headquarters is in Atlanta.

demagogue, demagoguery Not demagog.

democrat, democratic, Democratic Party See the political parties and philosophies entry.

Democratic Governors’ Conference Note the apostrophe.

Democratic National Committee On the second reference: the national committee, the committee.

Similarly: Democratic State Committee, Democratic County Committee, Democratic City Committee, the state committee, the city committee, the committee.

demolish, destroy Both mean to do away with something completely. Something cannot be partially demolished or destroyed. It is redundant to say totally demolished or totally destroyed.

denote See the connote, denote entry.

Denver The city in Colorado stands alone in datelines.

depart Follow it with a preposition: He will depart from La Guardia. She will depart at 11:30 a.m.

Do not drop the preposition as some airline dispatchers do.

Department of Agriculture; Department of Commerce; Department of Defense; Department of Education; Department of Energy (DOE acceptable on second reference); Department of Health and Human Services (formerly the Department of Health, Education and Welfare); Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD acceptable on second reference); Department of the Interior; Department of Justice; Department of Labor; Department of State; Department of Transportation (DOT acceptable on second reference); Department of the Treasury.

Avoid acronyms when possible. A phrase such as the department is preferable on second reference because it is more readable and avoids alphabet soup.

The of may be dropped and the title flopped while capitalization is retained: the State Department.

Lowercase department in plural uses, but capitalize the proper name element: the departments of Labor and Justice.

A shorthand reference to the proper name element also is capitalized: Kissinger said, “State and Justice must resolve their differences.” But: Henry Kissinger, the secretary of state.

Lowercase the department whenever it stands alone.

Do not abbreviate department in any usage.

See academic departments.

dependent (n. and adj.) Not dependant.

depreciation The reduction in the value of capital goods due to wear and tear or obsolescence.

Estimated depreciation may be deducted from income each year as one of the costs of doing business.

depression Capitalize Depression and the Great Depression when referring to the worldwide economic hard times generally regarded as having begun with the stock market collapse of Oct. 28-29, 1929.

Lowercase in other uses: the depression of the 1970s.

depths See dimensions.

deputy Capitalize as a formal title before a name. See titles.

derogatory terms Do not use derogatory terms such as krauts (for Germans) or niggers (for blacks) except in direct quotes, and then only when their use is an integral, essential part of the story.

See the obscenities, profanities, vulgarities entry and word selection.

-designate Hyphenate: chairman-designate. Capitalize only the first word if used as a formal title before a name.

See titles.

destroy See the demolish, destroy entry.

detective Do not abbreviate. Capitalize before a name only if it is a formal rank: police Detective Frank Serpico, private detective Richard Diamond.

See titles.

detente

detention center See the prison, jail entry.

Detroit The city in Michigan stands alone in datelines.

devil But capitalize Satan.

Dexedrine A trademark for a brand of appetite suppressant. It also may be called dextroamphetamine sulfate.

dialect The form of language peculiar to a region or a group, usually in matters of pronunciation or syntax. Dialect should be avoided, even in quoted matter, unless it is clearly pertinent to a story.

There are some words and phrases in everyone’s vocabulary that are typical of a particular region or group. Quoting dialect, unless used carefully, implies substandard or illiterate usage.

When there is a compelling reason to use dialect, words or phrases are spelled phonetically, and apostrophes show missing letters and sounds: “Din’t ya yoosta live at Toidy-Toid Street and Sekun’ Amya? Across from da moom pitchers?”

See Americanisms; colloquialisms; quotes in the news; and word selec-tion.

dialogue (n.)

diarrhea

Dictaphone A trademark for a brand of dictation recorder.

dictionaries For spelling, style and usage questions not covered in this stylebook, consult Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Macmillan, a division of Simon & Schuster, New York.

Use the first spelling listed in Webster’s New World unless a specific exception is listed in this book.

If Webster’s New World provides different spellings in separate entries (tee shirt and T-shirt, for example), use the spelling that is followed by a full definition (T-shirt).

If Webster’s New World provides definitions under two different spellings for the same sense of a word, either use is acceptable. For example, although or though.

If there is no listing in either this book or Webster’s New World, the backup dictionary, with more listings, is Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, published by G. & C. Merriam Co. of Springfield, Mass.

Webster’s New World is also the first reference for geographic names not covered in this stylebook. See geographic names.

die-hard (n. and adj.)

Diet The Japanese parliament. See foreign legislative bodies.

dietitian Not dietician.

different Takes the preposition from, not than.

differ from, differ with To differ from means to be unlike.

To differ with means to disagree.

dilemma It means more than a problem. It implies a choice between two unattractive alternatives.

dimensions Use figures and spell out inches, feet, yards, etc., to indicate depth, height, length and width. Hyphenate adjectival forms before nouns.

EXAMPLES: He is 5 feet 6 inches tall, the 5-foot-6-inch man, the 5-foot man, the basketball team signed a 7-footer.

The car is 17 feet long, 6 feet wide and 5 feet high. The rug is 9 feet by 12 feet, the 9-by-12 rug.

The storm left 5 inches of snow.

Use an apostrophe to indicate feet and quote marks to indicate inches (5’6”) only in very technical contexts.

Diners Club No apostrophe, in keeping with the practice the company has adopted for its public identity. Only its incorporation papers still read Diners’ Club.

Headquarters is in New York.

diocese Capitalize as part of a proper name: the Diocese of Rochester, the Rochester Diocese, the diocese.

See Episcopal Church and Roman Catholic Church.

directions and regions In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, etc., when they indicate compass direction; capitalize these words when they designate regions.

Some examples:

COMPASS DIRECTIONS: He drove west. The cold front is moving east.

REGIONS: A storm system that developed in the Midwest is spreading eastward. It will bring showers to the East Coast by morning and to the entire Northeast by late in the day. High temperatures will prevail throughout the Western states.

The North was victorious. The South will rise again. Settlers from the East went West in search of new lives. The customs of the East are different from those of the West. The Northeast depends on the Midwest for its food supply.

She has a Southern accent. He is a Northerner. Nations of the Orient are opening doors to Western businessmen. The candidate developed a Southern strategy. She is a Northern liberal.

The storm developed in the South Pacific. European leaders met to talk about supplies of oil from Southeast Asia.

WITH NAMES OF NATIONS: Lower- case unless they are part of a proper name or are used to designate a politically divided nation: northern France, eastern Canada, the western United States.

But: Northern Ireland, South Korea.

WITH STATES AND CITIES: The preferred form is to lowercase compass points only when they describe a section of a state or city: western Texas, southern Atlanta.

But capitalize compass points:

—When part of a proper name: North Dakota, West Virginia.

—When used in denoting widely known sections: Southern California, the South Side of Chicago, the Lower East Side of New York. If in doubt, use lowercase.

IN FORMING PROPER NAMES: When combining with another common noun to form the name for a region or location: the North Woods, the South Pole, the Far East, the Middle East, the West Coast (the entire region, not the coastline itself — see coast), the Eastern Shore (see separate entry), the Western Hemisphere.

director The former title for the individuals who head the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency. Capitalize when used immediately before their names or those of others for whom director is a formal title: FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Most uses of director, however, involve an occupational description not capitalized in any use: company director Joseph Warren.

See titles.

dis- The rules in prefixes apply, but in general, no hyphen. Some examples:

dismember disservice

dissemble dissuade

disabled, handicapped, impaired In general do not describe an individual as disabled or handicapped unless it is clearly pertinent to a story. If such a description must be used, make it clear what the handicap is and how much the person’s physical or mental performance is affected.

Some terms include:

disabled A general term used for a physical or cognitive condition that substantially limits one or more of the major daily life activities.

handicap It should be avoided in describing a disability.

blind Describes a person with complete loss of sight. For others use terms such as visually impaired or person with low vision.

deaf Describes a person with total hearing loss. For others use partial hearing loss or partially deaf. Avoid using deaf mute. Do not use deaf and dumb.

mute Describes a person who physically cannot speak. Others with speaking difficulties are speech impaired.

wheelchair-user People use wheelchairs for independent mobility. Do not use confined to a wheelchair, or wheelchair-bound. If a wheelchair is needed, say why.

disc Use this spelling except for computer-related references: laserdisc, videodisc, but hard disk.

See disk.

disc jockey DJ is acceptable on second reference in a column or other special context. Use announcer in other contexts.

discreet, discrete Discreet means prudent, circumspect: "I’m afraid I was not very discreet," she wrote.

Discrete means detached, separate: There are four discrete sounds from a quadraphonic system.

diseases Do not capitalize arthritis, emphysema, leukemia, migraine, pneumonia, etc.

When a disease is known by the name of a person identified with it, capitalize only the individual’s name: Bright’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, etc.

disinterested, uninterested Disinterested means impartial, which is usually the better word to convey the thought.

Uninterested means that someone lacks interest.

disk Use this spelling, not disc, for the thin, flat plate on which computer data can be stored. Do not use as an abbreviation for diskette.

See disc.

diskette A generic term that means floppy disk. Not synonymous with disk.

dispel, dispelled, dispelling

disposable personal income The income that a person retains after deductions for income taxes, Social Security taxes, property taxes and for other payments such as fines and penalties to various levels of government.

Disposall A trademark for a type of mechanical garbage disposer.

dissociate Not disassociate.

distances Use figures for 10 and above, spell out one through nine: He walked four miles.

Distant Early Warning Line DEW line is acceptable on second reference for this series of radar stations near the 70th parallel in North America.

district Always spell it out. Use a figure and capitalize district when forming a proper name: the 2nd District.

district attorney Do not abbreviate. Capitalize when used as a formal title before a name: District Attorney Hamilton Burger.

Use DA (no periods) only in quoted matter.

See titles.

district court See court names and U.S. District Court.

District of Columbia Abbreviate as D.C. when the context requires that it be used in conjunction with Washington. Spell out when used alone.

The district, rather than D.C., should be used in subsequent references.

ditto marks They can be made with quotation marks, but their use in newspapers, even in tabular material, is confusing. Don’t use them.

dive, dived, diving Not dove for the past tense.

divided nations See datelines and entries under the names of these nations.

division See the organizations and institutions entry; military units; and political divisions.

divorcee The fact that a woman has been divorced should be mentioned only if a similar story about a man would mention his marital status.

When the woman’s marital status is relevant, it seldom belongs in the lead. Avoid stories that begin: A 35-year-old divorcee ...

The preferred form is to say in the body of the story that a woman is divorced.

Dixie cup A trademark for a paper drinking cup.

doctor Use Dr. in first reference as a formal title before the name of an individual who holds a doctor of medicine, doctor of osteopathy, or doctor of podiatric medicine* degree: Dr. Jonas Salk. (Change in APstyle.)

The form Dr., or Drs., in a plural construction, applies to all first-reference uses before a name, including direct quotations.

If appropriate in the context, Dr. also may be used on first reference before the names of individuals who hold other types of doctoral degrees. However, because the public frequently identifies Dr. only with physicians, care should be taken to assure that the individual’s specialty is stated in first or second reference. The only exception would be a story in which the context left no doubt that the person was a dentist, psychologist, chemist, historian, etc.

In some instances it also is necessary to specify that an individual identified as Dr. is a physician. One frequent case is a story reporting on joint research by physicians, biologists, etc.

Do not use Dr. before the names of individuals who hold only honorary doctorates.

Do not continue the use of Dr. in subsequent references.

See academic degrees; courtesy titles; and religious titles.

dogs See animals.

dollars Always lowercase. Use figures and the $ sign in all except casual references or amounts without a figure: The book cost $4. Dad, please give me a dollar. Dollars are flowing overseas.

For specified amounts, the word takes a singular verb: He said $500,000 is what they want.

For amounts of more than $1 million, use the $ and numerals up to two decimal places. Do not link the numerals and the word by a hyphen: It is worth $4.35 million. It is worth exactly $4,351,242. He proposed a $300 billion budget.

The form for amounts less than $1 million: $4, $25, $500, $1,000, $650,000.

See cents.

domino, dominoes

door to door, door-to-door Hyphenate when used as a compound modifier: He is a door-to-door salesman.

But: He went from door to door.

DOS An acronym for disk operating system. Spell out.

double-faced

doughnut Not donut.

Dow Jones & Co. The company publishes the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s National Business and Financial Weekly. It also operates the Dow Jones News Service.

For stock market watchers, it provides the Dow Jones industrial average, the Dow Jones transportation average, the Dow Jones utility average, and the Dow Jones composite average.

Headquarters is in New York.

down- The rules in prefixes apply, but in general, no hyphen. Some examples:

downgrade downtown

-down Follow Webster’s New World. Some examples, all nouns and/or adjectives:

breakdown rundown

countdown sit-down

All are two words when used as verbs.

Down East Use only in reference to Maine.

downstate Lowercase unless part of a proper name: downstate Illinois. But: the Downstate Medical Center.

Down syndrome Not Down’s, for the genetic, chromosomal disorder first reported in 1866 by Dr. J. Langdon Down.

Down Under Australia, New Zealand and environs.

Dr. See doctor.

draft beer Not draught beer.

drama See composition titles.

Dramamine A trademark for a brand of motion sickness remedy.

Drambuie A trademark for a brand of Scottish liqueur.

dressing room

Dripolator A trademark for a brand of drip coffeemaker.

drive See addresses.

drive-in (n.)

drop out (v.) dropout (n.)

drought

drowned, was drowned If a person suffocates in water or other fluid, the proper statement is that the individual drowned. To say that someone was drowned implies that another person caused the death by holding the victim’s head under the water.

Dr Pepper A trademark (no period after Dr) for a brand of soft drink.

Headquarters is in Dallas.

drugs Because the word drugs has come to be used as a synonym for narcotics in recent years, medicine is frequently the better word to specify that an individual is taking medication.

drunk, drunken Drunk is the spelling of the adjective used after a form of the verb to be: He was drunk.

Drunken is the spelling of the adjective used before nouns: a drunken driver, drunken driving.

drunkenness

duel A contest between two people. Three people cannot duel.

duffel Not duffle.

duke, duchess See nobility.

Dumpster Trademark for a large metal trash bin.

Use trash bin or trash container instead.

Dunkirk Use this spelling rather than Dunkerque, in keeping with widespread practice.

du Pont, E.I. Note the spelling of the name of the U.S. industrialist born in France. Use du Pont on second reference.

The company named after him is E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. of Wilmington, Del. Capitalize the shortened form DuPont (no space, capital P) in keeping with company practice. The shortened form is acceptable in all references.

See foreign particles.

dust storm See weather terms.

Dutch oven, Dutch treat, Dutch uncle

dyed-in-the-wool (adj.)

dyeing, dying Dyeing refers to changing colors.

Dying refers to death.