We’ve changed some entries in our style guide. Here they are.

Greater Greater Washington uses its style guide to keep articles consistent, and in keeping with a few other organizations, we thought it would be fun to publish it last September for you all to see. Now, we’ve made a few more changes.

Staff recommend style guide changes and the Editorial Board decides. Where we have changed a previous entry, it’s noted at the bottom of that entry. Where there’s no note, the section is new to the style guide. Where the GGWash style guide does not specify a rule, we follow AP style (and occasioanlly, they follow us).

General rules

Hyperlinks
Link to other GGWash articles, primary sources, and articles in other publications where relevant. Hyperlinks should span only a few words, most often the participle phrase (verb and a few words following, such as the direct object). Hyperlinks should not cover an entire line of text or most of an entire line. Avoid hyperlinks for entire sentences (except very short ones).

For example, The WMATA board voted to set up an independent panel to investigate complaints against transit police. Hyperlinking the whole sentence, or the entire second half, would be too much.

Tweets
If citing a tweet, it can be hyperlinked or embedded. Embedding makes sense when it is a very critical piece of the article or if the article is actually talking about the tweet, such as if the tweet was newsworthy.

Embed a tweet if its importance is sufficient to the approximately 2 paragraphs of space it will occupy. If the author just made a good point which we want to cite, simply quote the relevant statement inline in the text with quotation marks and link to the tweet with a hyperlink.

For a thread of tweets, minimize embedding multiple in a row. A tweet thread can be turned into a blockquote; to more easily achieve this, reply to the thread with “@threadreaderapp unroll” and the app will reply with a link to the entire thread as a single block of text.

Geographic terms

General rules for discussing locations: Quadrants
Addresses in the District of Columbia all have quadrants, which are written as two-letter abbreviations such as Rhode Island Avenue NE. Do not set off with commas. Include the quadrants for District addresses the first time you mention a street, unless it’s already clear from context where it is. For example, if the article refers to in Dupont Circle then a reference to 17th Street clearly means 17th Street NW. If referring to an intersection, only write the quadrant once (such as the corner of Good Hope Road and 13th Street SE).

[We changed the style to not use a comma before the quadrant. Also, we removed an earlier rule saying it was acceptable to omit a quadrant when a road appears in only one quadrant.]

Capital/Capitol
Washington, DC is the nation’s capital (with an a). Federal agencies with this word include the National Capital Planning Commission or the National Park Service’s National Capital Area division, whose jurisdictions span the larger area containing the national seat of government.

Capitol (with an o, and capitalized) refers to the domed building housing Congress; the complex is the Capitol complex. The word is also used for geographic locations which relate to the Capitol such as Capitol Hill, the Capitol View neighborhood, or Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District (near Nationals ballpark). Federal agencies with this word include the Architect of the Capitol or Capitol Police. The roads emanating from the capitol are named e.g. East Capitol Street.

In organization titles, both words are commonly used in a federal context; regional organizations more typically use phrases like Greater Washington. One exception is the Greater Washington Partnership, which has been promoting the term Capital Region (with an a) for the area it covers spanning from Baltimore to DC to Richmond. Use of this term in articles requires explanation as it is not yet a widespread term. Also see Washington region.

Highways
Some roads have state or US highway numbers and also local road names. In most cases, they should be referred to with their local names and not the numbers: 7th Street, Georgia Avenue, not US Route 29 or Route 97 in Maryland). Exceptions should be made if:

1. local usage prefers the number,
2. the road changes names and the area being discussed spans multiple names, or
3. the name memorializes Confederate soldiers.

Interstate highways should be referred to by an I and the number everywhere (I-66), except when stated otherwise in the list below. When specifically discussing a bridge that carries an interstate, name the bridge and, if not already clear from context, tell the reader which interstate uses it. Example: The Theodore Roosevelt (I-66) Bridge.

When numbers are used for US highways, write e.g. US Route 50, not US-50; US can be dropped on subsequent mentions. State highways, if using numbers, can be referred to as Route 32 or Maryland Route 32, depending on whether the state is already clear; do not use MD-32.

In some cases listed below, on first mention the number and name should both be provided to clarify when people may be unfamiliar with the name. It is always acceptable to add the number as a parenthetical if this is likely to add familiarity to readers (though in most cases, the number is less familiar rather than more).

The following list gives specific guidance for particular roads:

[Most roads in the list were not changed; here are the ones that were:]

• DC Route 295 (for clarity, not just Route 295 on first mention), not the Kenilworth Avenue Freeway or the Anacostia Freeway. Note that part of DC Route 295 has a parallel frontage road, Kenilworth Avenue, which is distinct from (but close to) the freeway; when referring to this road or buildings on it, do write Kenilworth Avenue.
• I-695: Use name (Southeast Freeway) and number on first mention, since this segment had no signs for a long time and many people are unfamiliar with the number. The road continues into Southwest asone piece of I-395, and can be referred to as the Southwest Freeway especially when the article discusses both together, such as Southeast/Southwest Freeway.

[In addition to changing two roads, we added an example for an Interstate bridge and cleaned up the beginning section of text.]

Montgomery County
A county in Maryland. It’s acceptable in headlines and subsequent mentions in an article to refer to the county without the word County. MoCo is acceptable, sparingly, in tweets or home page titles, where brevity is key, but not in full headlines or article text. (Similar abbreviations for other counties, like ArlCo, are not acceptable; also see Prince George’s County.)

[The change here further limits using MoCo in headlines.]

National Landing
A marketing term for the Arlington neighborhoods of Crystal City, Pentagon City, and Potomac Yard that arose during the competition for Amazon HQ2 and is now also the name for the area’s Business Improvement District (BID), formerly known as the Crystal City BID. National Landing should only be used when specifically discussing the BID or marketing for the HQ2 competition.

The neighborhoods should be described using their individual names. Crystal City area may be used to describe the larger area.

[This section has been revised to incorporate the new name of the BID.]

Near Northeast
Acceptable as a name for the area between H Street NE and Florida Avenue NE in DC, east of the railroad tracks.

Sometimes used more broadly for the area up to New York Avenue NE, including areas like Union Market, Gallaudet University, and Trinidad; we do not use the broader scope, but be aware of the varying usage when reading other articles and quoting sources, or for the potential for confusion.

Prince George’s County
A county in Maryland. Do not use the common phrases PG or PG County, as some residents and political leaders believe the terms denigrate the county. It is acceptable to quote people or embed tweets that use the abbreviation. Prince George’s (without County) is acceptable in headlines and subsequent mentions.

[Revised for greater clarity and to specify that quoting is allowed.]

United States
Abbreviate as US (no periods) rather than U.S. See Periods (abbreviations).

[This section is new, but the rule is not.]

Organizations

Smithsonian
The museum complex is formally the Smithsonian Institution and never Smithsonian Institute. Just the Smithsonian is also acceptable even on first mention. Always include the (for the institution, not necessarily for the eponymous Metro station). For the castle-shaped building formally known as the Smithsonian Institution Building, say the Smithsonian Castle.

General terms

Bike lane
Can be used as a general term for dedicated space on roadways for bicycles (below, a painted bike lane, buffered bike lane, or protected bikeway). When talking about a particular bicycle facility, use one of the following terms to specifically describe it (all are general nouns and not typically capitalized):

• Sharrow: the painted symbol suggesting cyclists use a lane shared with motor vehicles.
• Painted bike lane: a paint-only single lane with no separation from other lanes.
• Buffered bike lane: a painted bike lane with a wider zone of striping keeping separation between the bike lane and a general travel lane, but lacking vertical separation such as bollards or a curb. Some call this a separated bike lane but this could be confused with a protected bikeway. On further mentions and in headlines a painted or buffered lane can be referred to as a bike lane. If describing one of these, explain what the term means.
• Protected bikeway: Bicycle infrastructure with a physical barrier separating it from the roadway. Avoid the more technical (and previously preferred) term cycletrack. Bikeway alone is acceptable in headlines and on subsequent mentions. It is acceptable to use protected bike lane as an alternative when discussing a one-way in-road path, such as those on L and M streets NW. (Some organizations use protected bike lane or PBL for all protected facilities, but we do not; avoid the abbreviation particularly.) GGWash’s choice of this term was the result of a reader poll and discussion.
• Trail: an independent facility usually used for both walking and cycling, sometimes adjacent to a road and sometimes fully independent. Many practitioners talk about multi-use trails that serve many modes of travel (such as people walking, running, and bicycling) but this term is jargon; if needed, explain the modes instead.

Note that a lane which is not a bike lane and which motor vehicles can use is also still open to bicycles in the vast majority of cases, and therefore is not a car lane but a general-purpose lane.

[This section is substantially expanded from the old protected bike lane specific rule. Note for those of you reading this far: the Editorial Board is pondering whether to say protected bike lane instead of protected bikeway. We decided on protected bikeway in 2014 to replace the old cycletrack, and had some specific reasons for being unsure about protected bike lane, though there was strong support for both at the time. It may be a good time to rethink this — what do you think?]

Black
Capitalize when using to refer to a racial group or racial identity. White is not generally used as a racial identity in a parallel way to Black in regular usage, so it would be acceptable to write the Black and white residents live side by side, provided such a sentence isn’t ignoring residents with other racial identities. (Note: AP style now also follows this practice.) Also see people of color.

Chair
The presiding officer of a legislature, committee, commission, or similar body. Use the gender-neutral chair or chairperson rather than chairman.

An exception is legislatures where there is a specific, separately-elected office with the title in formal law: Fairfax County Chairman Jeff McKay or DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson. (McKay’s predecessor, a woman, was still referred to as Chairman Sharon Bulova.)

Where chairs are selected by the body from among its members rather than separately elected, only use the term chair when speaking of a member in their presiding capacity: Todd Turner, chair of the Prince George’s County Council but in other contexts, Councilmember Turner. The same applies to committees and Advisory Neighborhood Commissions: ANC 4C Commissioner Charlotte Nugent voted yes; Chair Nugent led the meeting.

Contributor
People who write for GGWash on a volunteer basis. Do not use this term for people who donate funds; instead, use Neighbors (for members of the Neighborhood program) or another more specific term, or donors or supporters more generally. For people who have contributed articles in the past but not recently, use past contributor.

Hit by a car
A vernacular way of referring to a crash which improperly suggests that the car had agency rather than the driver. Make the driver the subject of the sentence or clause, such as A driver of a Ford F-150 struck and killed a person walking.

Exceptions can apply in unusual situations when the driver obviously did not take any action which could have led to the incident: The force of the explosion threw a car into a person walking. Since train fatalities are vanishly rarely the result of negligence by the operator, as compared to car-based ones, hit by a train is acceptable, though commenters will argue this vociferously on all sides.

[This section has been expanded based on discussion in the comments from when we first posted this.]

Incarcerated
Refer to people convicted of crimes and imprisoned as incarcerated or formerly incarcerated. Avoid tems such as felon, convict, criminal, prisoner, offender, and perpetrator in favor of people-first language. Also avoid referring to a person’s criminal justice history unless this is directly relevant to a story. See this article for more.

Initials
When referring to people, write their name in the way they want if that is known. We do not include middle initials (or first initials) unless the person always uses it or wants it used, or if necessary to avoid ambiguity. For instance, in 2012 both Michael A. Brown (then a DC councilmember) and Michael D. Brown (a DC shadow senator) appeared on the ballot simultaneously, but an article just about a DC council vote could simply say Michael Brown voted yes.

We do not include suffixes like Jr. or Sr. unless the person always uses it or wants it used, or if necessary to avoid ambiguity. For instance, DC councilmember Robert White is officially Robert C. White Jr. and some webpages, social media bios, etc. use the complete name, but others do not, so we can simply call him Robert White. However, the suffix was always used when discussing former Washington football team quarterback Robert Griffin III. Per AP style, there is no comma before a suffix when one is used.

Native Washingtonian
Some people use this as a term of pride. However, others feel only Indigenous people should be referred to as native. Further, use of this term can bring up controversies over whether people who’ve lived here a long time are more qualified to have opinions than others, or alternately, whether newcomers are not respecting the history of a place and the needs of people who’ve stuck by it during hard times.

Because the term imports a large amount of controversy, avoid using the term unless specifically discussing it or its implications. If tenure is relevant to the article, prefer more specific wording, like whose family has lived in the area for three generations. It is acceptable for individuals to use the term to describe themselves if they choose, such as in quotations or bios.

[This section has been revised and expanded.]

People experiencing homelessness
Use people-first language rather than homeless people or the homeless.

People of color
People who do not identify as white as a broad category. Avoid minorities in this context (more here). For specific racial/ethnic groups, follow AP style in most cases including dropping hyphens in terms like African American but preferring Black and Latino. Contrary to AP style, Latinx does not require explanation and can be used in a gender-neutral context.

Minimize use of people of color by using more specific words when everyone in a group identifies with a particular race or ethnicity; for instance, they are Black rather than they are people of color if all of the people in the group are in fact Black. Where possible, ask people to self-identify.

People with disabilities
Use people-first language rather than disabled people, the disabled, etc. in most cases. People-first language describes people as having some condition instead of it being intrinsic to themselves; the disability does not define the person but is one of several attributes.

Exceptions to people-first language are blind, deaf/Deaf, and autistic, as most leaders in those communities reject people-first language. Avoid handicapped entirely as it has had a pejorative connotation.

For mobility equipment, write e.g. she uses a wheelchair rather than she is wheelchair-bound or confined to a wheelchair because wheelchair users are often liberated by, not limited by, wheelchairs and are not always sitting in theirs (such as when driving or asleep).

[This section has been revised and expanded.]

Profanity (in quotations)
As in the comment policy, mild profanity stated by a person being quoted, in a tweet being cited or embedded, etc. is acceptable as long as it is not offensive or being used to directly attack another individual.

Ride-hailing
Companies like Uber and Lyft. They often refer to themselves as rideshare or ride-sharing companies. However, this is not an accurate term because brokering a taxi-like paid transportation arrangement between a buyer and seller is not sharing. Follow the Associated Press and use ride-hailing instead. It is fine to use sharing for practices like slugging and commercial services which help people to carpool. Zipcar and similar short-term car rental services may be referred to as car-sharing (but not ride-sharing).

[Added discussion of car-sharing.]

Transit
A service where a set of vehicles operate on fixed routes according to set schedules to transport people. Also can be written as public transit provided the service is publicly funded. Avoid mass transit.

[This section has been expanded.]

White
Unlike Black, do not capitalize, because most people who identify as white do not consider this a specific racial group or racial identity. See Black.

YIMBY
An acronym meaning Yes In My Back Yard, as opposed to NIMBY. This term may be used when specifically referring to the pro-housing movement that self-identifies as YIMBY. Do not use it as a catch-all for any pro-development situation or people. See this article for more on this and other names for sustainable urban planning movements.

[This section has been expanded.]

What do you think of these? You can also see our earlier style guide entries on general rules, place names, and organizations and other terms.