Q. We have a new employee who holds two PhDs. She insists on having her name listed as “Jane Doe, PhD,
PhD.” We are in a university environment and agree that degrees are important, but doesn’t
this seem a bit much?
A. Yes. It’s probably immodest and certainly irrational and superfluous. Maybe modesty must be cast aside
in today’s competitive, promotional environment, but there’s no question about
irrational and superfluous: Jane Doe can only be one doctor of philosophy (a PhD following someone’s
name doesn’t mean “I have one and only one PhD degree,”
it means “I’m a doctor of philosophy”—having
achieved that status in one or more than one field). Moreover, now that PPL Therapeutics, the company that cloned Dolly, has
announced that it is selling its assets and closing its doors, it is not very likely that Dr. Doe will become Drs. Doe any
time soon.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. More often in bibliographic citations, I am seeing the abbreviations s.l. and s.n. in place of n.p. where the place and/or publisher are unknown. What do these abbreviations mean, and are they likely to take over n.p.?
A. The abbreviations “s.l.” and “s.n.” stand for the Latin terms sine loco (without place [of publication]) and sine nomine (without name [of publisher]). They also happen to coincide with French bibliographic apparatus, standing for, respectively, sans lieu (de publication) and sans nom (de maison d’édition). They might also stand for Spanish sin lugar and sin nombre. These are perhaps superior to the English “n.p.,” which must stand equally for “no place,” “no publisher,” or “no page,” but in English publications “n.p.,” used correctly, is more likely to be understood; CMOS, therefore, recommends “n.p.” Note that “n.p.” can stand in for both publisher and place, if neither is known
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am a graduate of the University of Chicago and working in an environment surrounded by colleagues with Oxon and Cantab after their degrees (Oxon and Cantab being abbreviations for the Latinized forms for Oxford and Cambridge; see CMOS 10.42). Here is my stupid question: Is there a Latinized form for “Chicago” that I could use similarly? Although the word Chicago is certainly not of Indo-European origin, that certainly would not deter someone from its Latinization.
A. I consulted one of my colleagues, a sort of manuscript editor emerita at the press with a good knowledge of Latin. She pointed out the word “Chicagoensis,” “a rather low-tech Latin genitive form.” Based on this I did some looking around, finding out that the inscription on the seal of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago (adopted in 1904) is “Sigillum Diocesis Chicagoensis AD 1835—fide parta, fide aucta” (conceived in faith, by faith achieved). My colleague in any case went on to point out that “Chicago” would be a proper form of abbreviation but “rather a disappointment, as its connection with Latin does not at once appear.” Another option is “Chicagiensis,” with an i, the form apparently preferred by the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. The abbreviation “Chicagi,” however, especially given the proximity of the i to the o on a QWERTY keyboard, will probably just look like a typo. That’s what you get for attending the Universitas Chicagoensis
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am trying to find out when you write if you say “an MBA” or “a MBA.” Here is the example I’m trying to figure out: He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
A. Write what you say. MBA is an initialism, pronounced “em be ayy” (or something like that). It begins, then, with a vowel sound: write “an MBA.” On the other hand, write “a master of business administration degree.” (For definitions of initialism and other types of abbreviations, see CMOS 10.2.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I hope you can resolve a dispute between me and my editor. After introducing an acronym, e.g., “Bureau
of Land Management,” to “BLM,” I like to drop the “the”
in introducing it. For example, I think the least awkward way is to say “BLM is charged with the oversight
of . . .” as opposed to “The BLM is
. . .” Do you have any rule that covers this issue?
A. Generally, if “the” is part of the name, but not absorbed by the abbreviation,
use “the” as if the abbreviation were spelled out:
The NFL comprises thirty-one teams.
NFL games rarely get postponed owing to inclement weather.
In its ninety-two years, the NAACP has been a cornerstone of American civil liberties organizations.
NAACP membership is open to all who can afford it.
Advertisers for AT&T made a splash by incorporating the wah-wah pedal into recent advertisements for high-bandwidth cable.
Do you listen to the BBC?
In other words, use “the” unless the abbreviation is used as an adjective or unless
the abbreviation spelled out wouldn’t take a definite article (as is the case for American Telephone
and Telegraph, though I think the company has more or less dropped the antecedent to its initials).
The BLM’s own documentation demonstrates this usage.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How should we handle file extensions like PDF (portable document format, an Adobe Acrobat file)—lowercase, preceded by a period, or all uppercase? Other examples are GIF and JPG (or JPEG).
A. We consider these to be initialisms or acronyms, as the case may be, when they are not doing duty as file extensions appended to a file name: so PDF, JPG, GIF.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. We want to know the usage of “etc.” at the END of a sentence, that is, as the last word of a sentence. Is it spelled out?
A. The expression “et cetera” is rarely used. Its abbreviation “etc.” is discouraged in formal writing; CMOS recommends that, if used, it should be confined to parenthetical material or lists and tables. There is, however, no difference between the abbreviation and the two-word Latin expression it represents, and the position in a sentence has no bearing on which is more appropriate. For the use of commas with “etc.” and some of its English equivalents, see CMOS 6.20.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Do you recommend the use of BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era) instead of BC and AD? Has the debate about these
been settled or is it still in flux?
A. We are not aware of any intense debate. The choice between one or the other is up to the writer and should be flagged only
if the customs of a specific field or community seem to be in danger of being (unwittingly) violated. Many authors use BC
and AD because they are familiar and conventionally understood. Those who want to avoid reference to Christianity are free
to do so.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]