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Monday, February 18, 2013

Yahoo vs. AP Style Quiz: Presidents Day Edition | Copyediting.com

I'm linking to this article to focus on a matter of editorial style relevant to this day on our calendar. There's a clue in the headline.

But without further ado, note Presidents Day aboveYes, that is the correct editorial style, with no apostrophe, commonly preferred by editorial style manuals. Or, as I put it in Garbl's Editorial Style Manual:

Presidents Day Not President's Day or Presidents' Day.

Washington's Birthday Capitalize birthday when naming the official U.S. holiday, called Presidents Day by some states and organizations to also honor President Lincoln and other presidents. Washington was born on Feb. 22, but the legal federal holiday is the third Monday in February.
Also, go ahead and take the quiz at the linked article. But more interesting is the website mentioned there, comparing the style manuals of Yahoo and the Associated Press. That website also mentions another comparison, of the AP Stylebook and the Chicago Manual of Style.

As a former journalism student, journalism instructor, and newspaper editor and reporter, I've long used the AP manual as my first reference. But I also use the Chicago manual, the Gregg Reference Manual, and Garner's Modern American Usage if I have questions not covered by AP. 

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The Presidents Day article is featured today, Feb. 18, in my online daily paper, Garbl's Style: Write Choices, available at the Editorial Style tab above and by free email subscription.




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