-
race card
as in "play the race card"; has become a cliche, especially at election times when someone is certain to be accused of it -
racecard
lists racehorses at a racetrack -
race-fixing
-
RAC Foundation
should be described on first mention as a pro-motoring thinktank -
racial terminology
A person's race should only be included if relevant to the story. The words black and Asian should not be used as nouns, but as adjectives: black people rather than "blacks", an Asian woman rather than "an Asian", etc.
Say African-Caribbean rather than Afro-Caribbean.
Use the word "immigrant" with great care, not only because it is often incorrectly used to describe people who were born in Britain, but also because it has been used negatively for so many years. If relevant, say people are "children of immigrants", not "second-generation immigrants" -
rack
one's brains for something -
rack and ruin
-
racked
by guilt, with pain, not wracked -
rackets
not racquets, except in club titles -
Rada
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art -
Radio 1, 2, 3, 4, 4 Extra, 5 Live, 6 Music
-
radiographer
takes x-rays -
radiologist
reads them -
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Irish public broadcasting corporation -
radius
plural radii -
raft
something Huck Finn and Jim were on when they floated down the river; do not say "a raft of measures", which has very rapidly become a cliche (particularly in political reporting) -
Raid
redundant array of independent disks (data storage) -
railway station
train station is acceptable, indeed more widely used nowadays, although it still sounds wrong to some readers (and writers) -
Rainbows
for girls from five (four in Northern Ireland) to seven, at which point they may become Brownies -
raincoat, rainfall, rainproof
but rain check -
Ramadan
month of fasting for Muslims -
Ramblers, the
formerly known as the Ramblers' Association -
Ramsay, Gordon
ex-footballing chef; note that England's World Cup-winning manager in 1966 was Alf Ramsey -
Ramsey Street
where Neighbours become good friends -
R&B
whether you are listening to Bo Diddley or Beyoncé; although only the former style should be referred to as rhythm and blues -
Range Rover
no hyphen -
Rangers
not Glasgow Rangers -
rarefy, rarefied
-
rateable
-
rating agency
not ratings -
Rawlplug
TM -
Ray-Ban
TM; it's OK to call them Ray-Bans -
razzmatazz
-
re/re-
Use re- (with hyphen) when followed by the vowels e or u (not pronounced as "yu"): eg re-entry, re-examine, re-urge.
Use re (no hyphen) when followed by the vowels a, i, o or u (pronounced as "yu"), or any consonant: eg rearm, rearrange, reassemble, reiterate, reorder, reread, reuse, rebuild, reconsider, retweet.
Exceptions (where confusion with another word would arise): re-cover/recover, re-creation/recreation, re-form/reform, re-sent/resent, re-sign/resign -
realpolitik
-
rear admiral
Rear Admiral Horatio Hornblower at first mention, thereafter Adm Hornblower in leading articles, otherwise just Hornblower -
received pronunciation (RP)
a traditionally prestigious accent, associated with public schools and used by an estimated 3% of the population of England, also known as BBC English, Oxford English or the Queen's English; nothing to do with Standard English, which includes written as well as spoken language and can be (indeed, normally is) spoken with a regional accent -
recent
avoid: if the date is relevant, use it -
recur
not reoccur -
Red Crescent, Red Cross
-
redbrick
university; the original six were Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield -
redshirts
formally known as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), they were at the forefront of protests against the Thai government in 2010; their opponents, loyal to the Bangkok regime, were the yellowshirts -
referendum
plural referendums, not referenda -
reforestation
not reafforestation -
re-form
to form again -
reform
to change for the better. We should not take the initiators' use of the word at its face value, particularly in cases where we believe no improvement is likely. The latest set of changes to education or the health service may, or may not, be reforms -
refugee
According to the Refugee Council, a refugee is defined as "a person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country" -
refute
this much abused word should be used only when an argument is disproved; otherwise contest, deny, rebut -
regalia
plural, of royalty; "royal regalia" is tautologous -
regard
with regard to, not with regards to (but of course you give your regards to Broadway) -
Regent's Park
in London -
regime
no accent -
regional assemblies
abolition of the eight bodies representing English regions outside London, along with the regional development agencies, was announced in 2010 -
register office
not registry office – the first thing reporters used to be taught on local newspapers, although you still see the mistake -
registrar general
-
regrettable
-
rein in
not reign in -
reinstate
-
religious right
-
Renaissance, the
-
reopen
-
repellant
noun, repellent adjective: you fight repellent insects with an insect repellant -
repertoire
an individual's range of skills or roles -
repertory
a selection of works that a theatre or dance company might perform -
replaceable
-
report
the Lawrence report, etc; use report on or inquiry into but not report into, ie not "a report into health problems" -
reported speech
When a comment in the present tense is reported, use past tense: "She said: 'I like chocolate'" (present tense) becomes in reported speech "she said she liked chocolate".
When a comment in the past tense is reported, use "had" (past perfect tense): "She said: 'I ate too much chocolate'" (past tense) becomes in reported speech "she said she had eaten too much chocolate" (not "she said she ate too much chocolate").
Once it has been established who is speaking, there is no need to keep attributing, so long as you stick to the past tense: "Alex said he would vote Labour. There was no alternative. It was the only truly progressive party," etc -
republicans
lc (except for US and other political parties) -
residents
has a rather old-fashioned feel to it, especially in the deadly form "local residents"; on the whole, better to call them people -
resistance, resistance fighters
-
restaurateur
not restauranteur -
résumé
-
retail prices index (RPI)
prices not price, but normally no need to spell it out. No longer the official measure of inflation (that is the consumer price index), but still used for uprating pensions and other state benefits -
Rethink
formerly the National Schizophrenia Fellowship -
reticent
unwilling to speak; do not confuse with reluctant, as in this example from the paper: "Like most graduates of limited financial means, Louise Clark was reticent about handing over a huge wad of dosh"
-
Reuters
-
the Rev
at first mention, thereafter use courtesy title: eg the Rev Joan Smith, subsequently Ms Smith if honorific is needed; never say "Reverend Smith", "the Reverend Smith" or "Rev Smith" -
reveille
-
Revelation
last book in the New Testament: not Revelations, a very common error; its full name is The Revelation of St John the Divine -
Revenue & Customs
acceptable shorthand for HM Revenue and Customs, formed in 2005 from a merger of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise -
Revolutionary Guards
(plural) in Iran. The official name is Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution; "Revolutionary Guard" is meaningless in Iran.
In Libya, however, Muammar Gaddafi had his very own Revolutionary Guard (singular), now disbanded. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein also had one -
Rheims
-
rheumatoid arthritis
not rheumatism or arthritis, but can be abbreviated to RA after first mention -
Rhodes scholar
-
RIBA, the
the Royal Institute of British Architects -
Rice, Condoleezza
-
rice paddies
tautologous, as padi is the Malay word for rice; so it should be paddy fields or simply paddies -
Richter scale
expresses the magnitude of an earthquake, but scientists no longer use Richter's methodology as it does not work for large quakes or ones where the epicentre is farther than 600km away.
It was superseded in 1979 by the more uniformly applicable moment magnitude scale. So we talk about "an earthquake of magnitude 7.2" or whatever it is -
rickety
-
ricochet, ricocheted, ricocheting
-
ridden, riddled or raddled?
crime-ridden, disease-ridden; riddled with errors, riddled with bullets; a raddled appearance -
riffle
to flick through a book, newspaper or magazine; often confused with rifle, to search or ransack and steal from, eg rifle goods from a shop -
right now
adds nothing, and should normally be deleted.
We asked: "Who are the most powerful people in the UK media right now?"
"Who are the most powerful people in the UK media?" would have had just as much impact, and been much less annoying -
right wing, the right, rightwinger
nouns -
rightwing
adjective -
RIM
abbreviation for Research In Motion, the BlackBerry company -
ringfence, ringtone
-
riot grrrl
-
rivers
lc, eg river Thames, Amazon river or just Thames, Amazon -
riveted, riveting
-
RNIB
Royal National Institute of Blind People (no longer "the Blind") -
RNID
the Royal National Institute for Deaf People changed its name to Action on Hearing Loss in June 2011 -
roadmap
has become a cliche unless you are literally talking about a map -
roadside
-
rob
you rob a person or a bank, using force or the threat of violence; but you steal a car or a bag of money -
Rock
cap if referring to Gibraltar -
rock'n'roll
one word -
role
no accent -
Rollerblade
TM; say inline skates -
rollercoaster
one word -
rollover
noun (as in lottery rollover) -
Rolls-Royce
-
Roman Catholic
The archbishop of Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, St Andrew's, Southwark and Westminster: it is not normally necessary to say Roman Catholic (as there is no Anglican equivalent).
The Roman Catholic bishop of Aberdeen, Argyll, Lancaster, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Shrewsbury (for all of which there are Anglican bishops).
Unless obviously Roman Catholic from the context, say the Roman Catholic bishop of Brentwood, Clifton, Dunkeld, Galloway, Hexham and Newcastle, Leeds, Menevia, Middlesbrough, Motherwell, Northampton, Nottingham, Paisley and Salford.
In a UK setting use Roman Catholic in describing Roman Catholic organisations and individuals and wherever an Anglican could argue ambiguity (eg "the Catholic church"). But Catholic is enough in most overseas contexts, eg Ireland, France, Italy, Latin America -
Romania
-
Romany
noun, adjective; Roma plural -
Romeo
cap up, whether referring to Juliet's boyfriend or using generically ("he's the office Romeo") -
roofs
plural of roof (not rooves, which has appeared in the paper) -
Rooney, Coleen
not Colleen -
ro-ro
roll-on, roll-off ferry -
Rorschach test
psychological test based on the interpretation of inkblots -
rottweiler
-
roughshod
-
routeing or routing?
They are routeing buses through the city centre after the routing of the protesters -
Rovers Return, the
(no apostrophe) Coronation Street's pub; it sells Newton & Ridley beer -
Royal Academy of Arts
usually known simply as the Royal Academy -
Royal Air Force
or RAF -
Royal Ballet
-
Royal Botanic Garden
(Edinburgh) -
Royal Botanic Gardens
(London), also known as Kew Gardens or simply Kew -
Royal College of Surgeons
the college or the royal college is preferable to the RCS on subsequent mention -
royal commission
-
Royal Courts of Justice
-
royal family
-
Royal Institute of International Affairs
also known as Chatham House -
Royal Logistic Corps
not Logistics -
Royal London hospital
-
Royal Mail
for the company, not "the Royal Mail" -
Royal Marines
marines after first mention -
Royal Navy
or the navy -
Royal Opera, Royal Opera House
-
royal parks
-
Royal Society of Arts
RSA after first mention; its full name is Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce -
RSPB, RSPCA
do not normally need to be spelt out, but our readers outside the UK deserve a brief explanation of what they are -
rubber
strictly, a series of card games or sporting encounters, not an individual match; so if (say) Great Britain's tennis team lost the first three matches of a five-match Davis Cup tie, you would have a dead rubber (but it would be wrong to call the fourth or fifth matches "dead rubbers") -
Rubens, Peter Paul
(1577-1640) Flemish painter -
Rubicon
as in Clegg crossed his personal Rubicon -
rugby league, rugby union
-
rulebook
-
Rule, Britannia!
-
runoff, runup
(nouns) no hyphen -
rupee
Indian currency -
rupiah
Indonesian currency -
russian roulette
