Posted on: Sunday, August 12, 2001

After Deadline
Adapting to change by adopting changes

By John Simonds
Advertiser Reader Representative

Style is what guides the correct use of words and phrases in newspapers, aptly named because it's subject to the shifting fashions in language. News copy desks and their editors are usually the arbiters of when to adapt to the changes and adopt the use of new names, titles or ways of saying things in print.

Copy editors are also people who know the differences between words like adapt and adopt, as well as libel and liable, disburse and disperse, diffused and defused, parity and parody, discrete and discreet, affect and effect, principal and principle, mantle and mantel — and, in Hawai'i, kiawe (the wood) and Keawe (a family name).

Copy editors are critical to newspaper accuracy, as many readers know when they spot a mistaken word that slipped through both human and computer word-checking. The great catches and the sentences that copy editors improve every day are their hidden treasures. Presenting information and ideas in words that help readers understand them is a constant goal.

Responding to what groups or organizations want to call themselves is part of today's style challenge. Institutions, causes and individuals want to be recognized in language that suits their identities and missions. The Advertiser's mission includes tolerance, humility, sharing and respect. Though the Associated Press Stylebook is a guide for copy editors here as on other newspapers, The Advertiser's copy desk remains open to considering the preferences of Hawai'i's diverse peoples, cultures and interests.

A Big Island reader has suggested that The Advertiser further its sensitivity to Hawai'i's changing language by referring specifically to the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and UH at Hilo, so initials would be UHM and UHH, for example. This was before the university's president, Evan Dobelle, announced plans to upgrade campuses — some to four-year status, likely to result in more changes.

The Advertiser in many cases already uses names and initials of separate school identity much like those urged by the reader, though the Manoa campus remains headquarters to the university system.

The Advertiser, over the years, has dropped the shorthand and now spells out the name of the Kamehameha Schools and most other uses of the royal name, including a highway, housing project and shopping center, with the exception of the recently closed drive-in movie theater. Kalaeloa is a Hawaiian name for what used to be Barbers Point. Though the naval air station closed in 1999, the public school there continues to be called Barbers Point Elementary School.

Hansen's disease has been an accepted term in modern decades for the disease historically known as leprosy. The term "ex-Marine" has given way to "former Marine" in recent articles, a preference voiced in a May letter to the editor, and a letter in July objected to The Advertiser's use of "Army brats," a term often used by military dependents to describe themselves.

The Japanese Consulate here pointed out earlier this year that the Ehime Maru had been incorrectly described as a "fishing vessel," when it was actually a training ship operated by a school in Japan. Some articles still call it a fishing vessel, but its training purpose increasingly has been emphasized.

Headlines and stories refer to the Navy EP-3 aircraft that crashed on Hainan Island after colliding with a Chinese jet fighter in April as "a spy plane," a designation that some callers objected to, opting for the more official "reconnaissance" or "surveillance" labels. Advertiser stories at various times have included all the terms.

Good news for readers who savor bits of unusual information: Lou Boyd is back, emerging from retirement at age 73 by popular demand to revisit the Island Life section every day.

The trivia column formerly known as "Just Checking" has returned after seven months as "Lou Boyd Revisited."

The search for a comparable replacement proved difficult and disappointing, not just for The Advertiser but for Mainland papers where his column appeared.

In an age of exploding information, Boyd seems rare in his ability to gather and present it in small daily fragments — a strange fact in itself.