From the Newsroom: Business names and invoking Lou’s Law

In ilani’s case, the operators initially told us they didn’t care if we capitalized the name or not. So we did, because not capitalizing a proper name deviates from standard usage. But recently they asked that “ilani” be written the same way as they have branded it, in lower-case letters.

It ended up capitalized on Wednesday because it was the first word of a sentence and a headline. There’s some debate over whether we should make exceptions in these cases, again due to standard rules. But, to me, Lou’s Law still says it should be “ilani” whenever it appears, even if it looks strange. So I’ve asked everyone to try it this way, at least until they decide to name the place “ilani shoppingtown.”

These style debates are often raging behind the scenes at newspapers. A national example is Walmart, formerly Wal-mart or Wal-Mart. There’s been a yearslong tussle over this one, which was made even more complicated over the years by the fact the parent company, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., referred to its stores as WAL*MART. The issue was settled when the corporation, the websites and the stores were rebranded as Walmart, though you’ll still see the old name crop up by mistake.

Showing Reserve

Of course, it isn’t just companies that confound us. Street names in Clark County are unusually perplexing.

Years ago our veteran police reporter, the late John Branton, wrote a humorous and informative handout, “Fourth Plain is not an avenue,” that I still give to new employees. It outlines some of our local oddities, including that our street grid contains northeast, northwest and southeast addresses, but any southwest address would be in the Columbia River.

And Vancouver, Washougal and Battle Ground have Main Streets, but Ridgefield has a Main Avenue.

I was editing a story this week by our newest staff member and came across another old enemy: East Reserve Street. Our old military post had an East Reserve and a West Reserve, and both had streets. Thus, it is “703 East Reserve St.” and not “703 E. Reserve St.”

To remember all of these rules we use the Associated Press stylebook and our own Columbian stylebook. Our excellent copy editors have memorized these rules, including an AP rule that eBay is capitalized as the first word of a sentence. Since this goes against Lou’s Law, our debate on “ilani” may continue.