Style

My boss retrieved a voice-mail yesterday, late in the afternoon.

We were the only ones in the room. I heard the message because he was on speaker.

When the caller mentioned a problem with the screens on the Patron Desktop, my ears perked up. That's my job. I got up and walked over to his cubby to hear some more.

She said that it had come to her attention that we used the word "website" on the Desktop screens. She went on to tell him that "website" is an improper word and doesn't follow the corporate style guide. The corporate style guide details that "web site", with a space between the two words, is the preferred usage. She asked us to please make appropriate changes to the Patron Desktop screens...

Goodness.

I was dumbfounded.

Some of the thoughts that flew through my cranium:

• I didn't know there was a style guide...
• I didn't know there were folks tasked to check out and report on style guide infractions...
• Someone has time to check out my style?
• The Desktop screens are a little over two years old, I've been sinning for quite a while now...
• Not a big deal, but this really demanded a phone call?

My boss and I had a little chuckle. I agreed to make the changes, then got ready and went home, thinking no more of the incident.

I pulled the latest issue of Time magazine from the mailbox on the way up to our apartment. After I changed my clothes, I was glancing through it, when I noticed "website" right there on the page. Hmmm?

It's okay to use the word that way in Time.

I made a quick check of the Official Word List of the National Scrabble Association. Yup. "Website" is an acceptable play in Scrabble.

I just used spell-check here on Blogspot.com. Yup. "Website" is spelled correctly.

Thinking back, I remember that Brother Brigham counseled us to have a style of our own. I wonder if this is really what he was talking about.

I just didn't realize that such minor details would matter so much.