PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

Colleagues in my old firm, CFM Strategic Communications, have engaged in an interesting – and friendly – argument over the last few days. I have been part of the argument.

It is this:

Do we have to bow and scrape to the so-called “AP Style?”

The initials AP refer to the Associated Press. My wording of the question illustrates my bias.

My answer is no.

For some of my colleagues, the answer is yes.

Many regular persons don’t even know that something called the “AP Style” exists. Well, it does.

But it was intended for those who write for newspapers, including me back in the day when I was a reporter for The Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon. The rationale was to bring consistency to reporting.

According to AP style, for instance, a reporter should always spell out the word per cent – and it would be two words, not one. And, in what I believe was an example of the over-zealous style folks, you would always have two spaces between sentences, not one.

Though, as heinous as this may be, AP style recently has reverted to one space, not two.

Does all of this matter? Of course the answer is no.

But, to my old colleagues — emphasis on “old,” — adherence to AP Style is still viewed as critical, both for journalists and for public relations professionals, the latter of which is a service provided by my old firm.

This also may be an illustration that I have too much time on my hands in retirement to focus on this. But, in the spirit of over-the-top, sometimes irrelevant detail, here are a few of my style ingredients, not AP Style,with a rationale for each.

Always use hyphens when hyphens contribute to readability.

Consider this example — the word “bipartisan.” A casual reader, one not addicted to political issues as I am, might read the word this way – bip-artisan.

Therefore, I always write the word like this – bi-partisan.

Or, consider words that begin with “re,” such as re-examine.  They read much better with a hyphen.

Always use as many commas as possible because favoring the pause by a comma contributes to readability.

Consider this sentence.

“But, when I talked with the Bank yesterday, I understood that staff there had mailed documents to me.”

I wrote that sentence the other day and I think it reads better with the commas, even though AP Style may argue against it. Without commas, the sentence would read like this – But when I talked with the Bank yesterday I understood that staff there had mailed documents to me.

To repeat, with the commas – and the pauses they denote – the sentence reads better.

Don’t use abbreviations when full words are more readable.

AP Style calls for using such abbreviations as Sen. for Senator and Rep. for Representative. I decline to do so. Just spell out the full word.

In the same way, AP Style calls for this – Representative (my style) Greg Walden, R-Ore. I depart from AP Style, always using the full word, Oregon

Develop your own style for using capital letters.

I say your own style because AP Style is nothing but confusing on this point. For instance, as you write about the Oregon Legislature, does the word “legislature” deserve a capital L or not? I say yes. AP Style is not clear.

At least one of the AP Style pieces of advice is also accurate from the standpoint of English language style. It is this: Dave Fiskum, director of the Department of Pet Peeves, is making full and complete decisions about what is a pet peeve and what is not.

In this sentence, correct style calls for the word “director” to carry a small D. If, however, the title “director” preceded Fiskum’s name, it would be a capital D.

Now, if you have managed to read this far, you no doubt will agree with me that all of this does not matter in the real world. No it doesn’t. But it is fun for me to ruminate on these issues and to argue with my colleagues about them.