SwingDJs

Did some research this past weekend, which mostly involved making my mother, who is an AP reporter, do some research:

According to the 2006 AP Style Guide entry for "disc jockey," the most correct term is "deejay," as opposed to "DJ". The term "DJ" is acceptable if there is no inflectional ending. I.e.,

Correct: DJ, deejay, deejays, deejayed, deejaying.

Incorrect: DJs, DJ's, DJed, DJ'd, DJing.

The same rules apply for "emcee" and even "okay." Okay, so, I'm done being retentive for the day. G'night.

FWIW

Abbreviating it here means AP reporters will have to do some work to get our discussions past their editors.

...

or it just means we're lazy and use our own vernacular of TLAs.

I imagine the style guide is lagging behind what most people actually say and write. Since anybody with an iPod can call themselves a DJ these days, if enough people keeping using phrases like "Tom is DJing tonight at the club..", all the style guides are likely to catch up sooner or later.

"deejay" = "sock hop" = cornball.

Interesting point, but that is the first time I have ever heard the AP referred to as an authoritative source for grammar and style usage.

Few of us actually "jockey discs" any more, so technically the entire term should be trashed. But try getting people to refer to us as "laptop song selectors" or "LSSes," and see where that goes, too.

Perhaps MP3 Monkey or MM for short would be more appropriate.

Lawrence wrote:Interesting point, but that is the first time I have ever heard the AP referred to as an authoritative source for grammar and style usage.

Few of us actually "jockey discs" any more, so technically the entire term should be trashed. But try getting people to refer to us as "laptop song selectors" or "LSSes," and see where that goes, too.

I don't know I kind of think that the AP has to have good writers and editors because their articles are printed in newspapers across the country. So I believe that they have to be experts at grammar and style usage. As opposed to us, caught in our own little swingdjs.com world.

sonofvu wrote:

Lawrence wrote:Interesting point, but that is the first time I have ever heard the AP referred to as an authoritative source for grammar and style usage.

Few of us actually "jockey discs" any more, so technically the entire term should be trashed. But try getting people to refer to us as "laptop song selectors" or "LSSes," and see where that goes, too.

I don't know I kind of think that the AP has to have good writers and editors because their articles are printed in newspapers across the country. So I believe that they have to be experts at grammar and style usage. As opposed to us, caught in our own little swingdjs.com world.

Haha, no way... I read stories that are posted online from AP sources that have *horrible* grammar and spelling...

Language evolves, words that weren't words before become words... so come up with a new term and see if it sticks, otherwise i think DJ is fine and is pretty well accepted.

There are too many abbreviations in this age of IM. If they want to eliminate one by writing deejay for DJ, good. When the abbreviation can't be understood by someone outside its esoteric sphere of influence, it ceases to mean anything at all. NTTAWWT-- LOL

The AP grammar discussed above is specific to a journalistic discourse and not necessarily applicable in every context. Common convention usually applies in colloquial contexts (ie in 'ordinary' talk and writing), which is why 'deejay' often feels pretty hokey.

'DJ' is such a common abbreviation it's acceptable to leave out the 'dots' - DJ is as conventionally acceptable as D.J. Deejay is an interesting version - a phonetic version of a spoken acronym.


Different disciplines and genres require different grammars, but in my field (academic writing in Australian cultural studies/the humanities) 'DJ' is fine.

These are the ones I've used for academic journals in Australia, the US and the UK. Journals are pretty picky about grammar, so these have all passed editors with a range of journals:

DJs (plural of DJ)
DJ's (something belonging to one DJ)
DJs' (something belonging to many DJs)
DJed (something many of us did this week)
DJing (something I'll be doing this weekend at Devil City Swing !!*excitement*)


I've also seen deejay, Deejay and DeeJay (with the usual endings); D.J., D.J.s and so on. I usually consult the relevant style guide when I'm submitting to journals (I have published a few articles discussing DJing specifically) to be sure I'm not going to get busted.


Whichever approach you take, consistency is key - chopping and changing is a bad idea. Personally, I can't stand 'DJ's' as a plural. Urk.

Lawrence wrote:But try getting people to refer to us as "laptop song selectors" or "LSSes," and see where that goes, too.

The Jamaican term was always the better one: "selector." Works with any sound source and does not need to be abbreviated.