AP Stylebook Finally Changes "e-mail" to "email"

Antiquated tech terms modified

The AP Stylebook, the de facto style and usage guide for much of the news media, announced today that the abbreviated term for “electronic mail” is losing a hyphen, and with it, a relic of a simpler time when Internet technology needed to be explained very carefully.

The move follows the unveiling of 42 new style guidelines for social media in the 2010 edition of its Stylebook, most notably re-classifying “website” as one word (it had previously suggested “Web site”).

The 2010 entries refer mostly to networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter, standardizing terms such as app, blogs, click-throughs, friend and unfriend, metadata, RSS, search engine optimization, trending, widget and wiki.

Other notable changes included separating out “smart phone” as two words, hyphenating “e-reader,” and allowing fan, friend and follow to be used both as nouns and verbs.

Additionally, the AP defined some acronyms that are commonly used in texting and instant messaging, including ROFL (rolling on floor laughing), BRB (be right back), G2G (good to go), and POS (parents over shoulder).

Today’s news, fittingly enough, was first announced on the AP Stylebook’s Twitter page, where they tweeted: “Language evolves. Today we change AP style from e-mail to email, no hyphen. Our editors will announce it at #ACES2011 today.”

Look for the change to be in effect immediately in the online version of the stylebook and in the 2011 print version.

Source:

AP Stylebook on Twitter, "Stylebook Online reflects the change to "email" today," March 18, 2011

Hummus and Hookers, Oh My!

Provocative ads featuring a
tough-talking grandmother

Saucy Ads Draw Attention

Kraft Foods has drawn attention — and some criticism — to a new ad campaign promoting its Athenos hummus.

The brand's new spokeswomen are a bunch of cantankerous "Yiayia's" (Greek for grandmother) who enjoy ridiculing their grandchildren.

In the first television spot, a young woman serves her friends Athenos hummus. In response, her Yiayia comments that the hostess dresses like a prostitute. The hostess does a verbal double-take and the Greek grandmother repeats the word "prostitute" for good measure.

In a second spot, another Yiayia tells her granddaughter she's "going to hell" for living with a guy before marriage. Yiayias are apparently renowned for this kind of malevolence, and their descendants love them for it!

The campaign - aimed at going viral - is raising eyebrows for its saucy language and stereotypes of Greek culture. The spots close when the narrator points out that at least Yiayia endorses Athenos hummus. "Athenos may be the only thing approved by Yiayia."

Jill Baskin, director of advertising at Kraft, says the brand means no offense. "While these ads may be controversial, for the most part people will see them for the light-hearted fun they are having," she says. "Any Greek Americans we ran them by thought they were really funny."

The ad was created by the agency Droga5/New York, which said in a statement that it is “thrilled to be working with a company so willing to push creative boundaries.”

See the other Athenos commercials

They apparently did not run them past Maria Anagnostopoulos, program director at The Greek Institute, who says: "These commercials are not appropriate from a Greek perspective."

The Athenos line is targeted at women in their 20s. Sales of Greek foods are off the charts, with Greek yogurt sales up 160% over the past year, to $589 million, Nielsen reports.

Public relations guru Katie Paine says the ad will have strong appeal to the brand's young target but won't likely meet Kraft's goal of going viral. "You just can't plan to go viral."

Sources:

1. Bruce Horovitz, "Kraft Ads With Criticizing Grandma Get Criticized," USA Today, February 28, 2011

2. Lewis Lazare, "Athenos Ad Authentic, Amusing," Chicago Sun Times, March 1, 2011

3. Tim Nudd, "Bitchy Old Women Promoting Kraft Hummus," AdWeek (AdFreak.com), February 28, 2011