The Economist Style Guide: 9th Edition

Published by e-man | Filed under Economics & Finance

Rare is the style guide that a person–even a word person–would want to read cover to cover. But The Economist Style Guide, designed, as the book says, to promote good writing, is so witty and rigorous as to be irresistible. The book consists of three parts. The first is the Economist’s style book, which acts as a position paper of sorts in favor of clear, concise, correct usage. The big no-noes listed in the book’s introduction are: “Do not be stuffy…. Do not be hectoring or arrogant…. Do not be too pleased with yourself…. Do not be too chatty…. Do not be too didactic…. [And] do not be sloppy.” Before even getting to the letter B, we are reminded that aggravate “means make worse, not irritate or annoy”; that an alibi “is the proven fact of being elsewhere, not a false explanation”; and that anarchy “means the complete absence of law or government. It may be harmonious or chaotic.”