H

Contents 1 Haarlem, Harlem 2 habeas corpus 3 Habsburg 4 Haiti 5 hale, hail 6 half 7 half-mast 8 haj 9 haji 10 halftime 11 hallelujah 12 Halley's comet 13 halo, halos 14 hands off 15 Hamas 16 Hamilton 17 hang 18 hangar, hanger 19 hara-kiri 20 harass, harassment 21 hard court 22 hard fought 23 hardline, hardliner 24 hat-trick 25 H-bomb 26 head of state 27 headroom 28 healthcare 29 hedge fund 30 heavenly bodies 31 hectare 32 heights 33 hemorrhage 34 hemorrhoid 35 here 36 heroin 37 hertz 38 Hezbollah 39 hiccup 40 HICP 41 hi-fi 42 high-tech 43 high commission 44 hike 45 hint 46 hippie 47 Hispanic 48 Hispanic names 49 Hispaniola 50 historic, historical 51 hit by 52 hitchhike, hitchhiker 53 Hitler 54 HIV 55 Hizbollah 56 hoard, horde 57 hoary 58 Hobson's choice 59 hoi polloi 60 Holland 61 holocaust 62 Holy Places 63 homemade 64 homemaker 65 homeopathy 66 home schooling 67 hometown 68 homosexual 69 honorifics 70 hoof-and-mouth 71 hopefully 72 horde, hoard 73 hospitalise, hospitalisation 74 host 75 hostile bid 76 hot spot 77 House of Commons, the Commons 78 House of Representatives 79 housing unit 80 human being 81 humorist 82 hundredweight 83 hung 84 hurricanes 85 hyphenation 86 hydro 87 hyperthermia 88 hypothermia

Haarlem, Harlem

Haarlem is in the Netherlands, HarIem in New York City.

habeas corpus

A writ to produce a prisoner before a court, usually used to establish whether the person's detention is legal . When used in stories, define its meaning.

Habsburg

Haiti

Not an island. It shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

hale, hail

Hale is free from disease, or to pull or haul by force. Hail is to salute or call out, or an ice shower. Hail a cab. A person is hale and hearty.

half

Note the following: halfhearted, halftrack; half brother, half size; half-baked, half-cocked, half-hour, half-life, half-moon, half-truth.

half-mast

Hyphenate. Strict military protocol distinguishes between half-mast for ships and naval stations and half-staff for other uses on land.

haj

Not hadj or hajj. The Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

haji

Someone who has performed the haj.

halftime

One word

hallelujah

Halley's comet

Lower case "c"

halo, halos

hands off

Hyphenate when a compound modifier. She adopted a hands-off policy and kept her hands off decisions.

Hamas

Refer to it as the Islamist Hamas movement. Suggest we include following in most stories on Hamas: Its leaders have offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Islamist group continues to say it will not formally recognise Israel and its 1988 founding charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

Hamilton

Use the form HAMILTON, Bermuda as a dateline for the Bermudan capital.

hang

A person is hanged, a picture is hung.

hangar, hanger

hangar is a shelter for aircraft, a hanger for clothes

hara-kiri

Japanese ritual suicide. Not hari-kari.

harass, harassment

Not harrass. But embarrass.

hard court

The hard courts were designed for big servers, but one word as an adjective, e.g. hardcourt tournament.

hard fought

Avoid this cliche in sports reporting. Most competitive matches are hard fought and it is a story if they are not.

hardline, hardliner

Spell as one word, without hyphen.

hat-trick

Hyphenated.

H-bomb

Use hydrogen bomb in text unless directly quoting someone. May be used in headlines.

head of state

Be careful, it is not always the prime minister.

headroom

One word.

healthcare

One word.

hedge fund

A private investment fund in which institutions and individuals may invest. It typically aims to produce high returns from rapid, short-term market movements, often by taking very leveraged positions and using aggressive strategies such as short selling, swaps, derivatives, program trading and arbitrage.

heavenly bodies

Capitalise the names of planets, stars and constellations.

hectare

To convert to acres roughly multiply by five and divide by two, precisely multiply by 2.471.

heights

Convert the heights of mountains, buildings, etc. from metres to feet, not yards.

hemorrhage

Prefer bleeding.

hemorrhoid

here

Avoid using here as a device to locate a story. It can lead to confusion, ambiguity and sometimes error. It is often not necessary to give a locator in a lead paragraph. For instance, in a Budapest-datelined story on a meeting between the Hungarian and French presidents one would assume that they met in the capital unless the story explicitly said otherwise. In that case the reference to the talks being in Budapest could come in the second or third paragraph.

heroin

hertz

A unit of frequency of one cycle per second. It usually requires explanation. e.g. 16,000 hertz (cycles per second).

Hezbollah

A Shi’ite Islamist group in Lebanon that is backed by Syria and Iran. It is a political party with a formidable guerrilla army.

hiccup

HICP

Harmonised index of consumer prices, a measure of inflation calculated under common rules by all EU member states. In Britain, the HICP is known as the CPI, but the two are the same index.

hi-fi

high-tech

Not hi-tech. Use as adjective only. As a noun write high-technology.

high commission

Lower case except when specific: British High Commission.

hike

Use rise or increase when referring to pay, prices, etc. "Hike" is jargon.

hint

Do not use this inadequate word because it risks making a value judgment. Who said what and where and when?

hippie

Not hippy. A rebel against conventional standards and values.

Hispanic

As a noun or adjective refers to those whose ethnic origin is in a Spanish-speaking country. Be more specific where possible, such as Colombian or Mexican. Note that people from Portuguese-speaking countries are not Hispanic. See race

Hispanic names

People in Spanish-speaking countries usually include in their full names the family name of their father followed by that of their mother, sometimes linked by y (and), e.g. Ferdinand Maradona Lopez, Pedro Ardiles y Portillo.

Give the full name at first reference, but only the father’s family name (Maradona, Ardiles) at second reference, unless the person is normally known by the combination of two names. Portuguese, Spanish and Brazilian soccer players may be known by several names, one name, or a nickname. Follow commonly accepted usage e.g. Pele, Joao Pinto, Edu.

Hispaniola

A Caribbean island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

historic, historical

A historic event is a major and dramatic one, a historical event is one which, even if in itself quite minor, is part of history. Historic is nearly always the word needed in Reuters copy but use it with care to avoid writing a cliché.

hit by

Do not use when you mean affected by.

hitchhike, hitchhiker

Hitler

First name was Adolf not Adolph. His title was Fuehrer (leader) not Fuhrer.

HIV

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The term AIDS applies to the most advanced stages of HIV infection. The initials AIDS and HIV may be used at first reference with the full name given lower in the story. Do not write HIV virus.

Hizbollah

Do not use. See Hezbollah

hoard, horde

A hoard is a hidden stock or treasure, a horde a multitude.

hoary

Not hoarey, for something ancient or white with age.

Hobson's choice

Not the lesser of two evils, but no choice at all.

hoi polloi

Not the hoi polloi. Prefer the masses, or the common people.

Holland

Use the Netherlands except in datelines, where it is just Netherlands, e.g. ARNHEM, Netherlands, May 16 …

holocaust

Wholesale slaughter or destruction by fire. Capitalise when referring to the Nazi massacre of European Jewry.

Holy Places

The Holy Places of Islam are Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, in that order. In Mecca the great mosque containing the Kaaba is venerated especially in the annual haj, or pilgrimage. In Medina it is the Prophet Mohammad’s mosque where the founder of the Islamic religion is buried. Non-believers are not allowed to enter Mecca or Medina. In Jerusalem it is al-Haram al-Sharif, which Jews call the Temple Mount.

homemade

One word.

homemaker

One word.

homeopathy

Not homoeopathy.

home schooling

Two words, but hypehnate home-schooled and home-schooler.

hometown

One word.

homosexual

The word applies to both men and women, not just to men. Therefore do not write homosexuals and lesbians, although you can refer to homosexual men and women.

honorifics

See courtesy titles, nobility, religious titles, royalty.

hoof-and-mouth

Use foot-and-mouth.

hopefully

Except in quotation do not use to mean it is hoped that …

horde, hoard

A horde is a multitude, a hoard is a hidden stock or treasure.

hospitalise, hospitalisation

Do not use. Prefer taken to hospital or treated in hospital. On most occasions drop the reference because seriously ill or injured people are usually treated in hospital.

host

Acceptable as a verb.

hostile bid

A bid for a company that is not supported by its senior management.

hot spot

Two words: an area that has wireless computer connectivity, a global trouble spot or a point of intense heat in a fire.

House of Commons, the Commons

House of Representatives

Capitalise when referring to a specific body e.g. the U.S. House of Representatives.

housing unit

Jargon. Use home or household.

human being

Just human will do.

humorist

hundredweight

UK/U.S. long = 112 pounds/50.8 kg. U.S. short = 100 pounds/45.4 kg.

hung

A person is hanged, a picture is hung.

hurricanes

The most severe of all storms is a cyclone, in which winds blow spirally inwards towards a centre of low barometric pressure. In the Caribbean and on the East Coast of the United States such a storm is called a hurricane. In many countries meteorological offices give tropical storms the names of men and women in alphabetical sequence. Capitalise names once a hurricane has been so designated: Hurricane Katrina. Use it, not he or she, as the pronoun.

hyphenation

Use a hyphen if its omission might lead to ambiguity, e.g. three year-old horses is quite different from three-year-old horses. Use caution in headlines: False jailing claim delayed. What was meant was False-jailing claim delayed.

Hyphens tend to erode with time and many words once hyphenated are now generally written unhyphenated e.g. ceasefire, cooperation, gunrunner, machinegun.

Use a hyphen to show that two or more words are to be read together as a single word with its own meaning, different from that of the individual words, e.g. extra-judicial duties (duties other than judicial ones) as opposed to extra judicial duties (additional judicial duties).

Do not hyphenate an adjective and a noun when they stand alone, e.g. the left wing of the party. If the adjective and noun are paired to form a new adjective, they are hyphenated, e.g. a first-class result, the left-wing party. Hyphenate numbers and nouns or adjectives when they are paired to form a new adjective, e.g. a six-cylinder car, a one-armed man. Do not hyphenate adjectives used to form comparatives or superlatives, e.g. the most desirable outcome, the least likely result, the more obvious solution.

Do not hyphenate an adverb and adjective when they stand alone, e.g. The artist was well known. If the adverb and adjective are paired to form a new adjective, they are hyphenated, e.g. a well-known artist. Do not do so however if the adverb ends in -ly, e.g. a poorly planned operation.

Hyphenate two adjectives or an adjective and a present or past participle when they are paired to form a new adjective, e.g. a dark-blue dress, a good-looking man, a well-tailored suit.

Do not hyphenate very with an adjective. He is a very good man.

If the second element in a word is capitalised, hyphenate. Transatlantic is an exception.

If pre- or re- is followed by an element beginning with e, hyphenate e.g. pre-empt, re-employ.

If the first element of a word is the negative non-, hyphenate, e.g. a non-aggression pact (but nonconformist).

Where two nouns are paired to form another noun, hyphenate if their original distinct meanings are still clearly retained, e.g. actor-manager. Otherwise do not hyphenate, e.g. housekeeper.

Where a verb and adverb are paired to form a noun, hyphenate if the verb ends and the adverb begins with a vowel, e.g. cave-in, flare-up.

Hyphenate titles when the first word is a preposition, e.g. under-secretary, vice-admiral, or when a noun is followed by an adjective, e.g. attorney-general. (However official U.S. titles are not hyphenated, e.g. the US. Attorney General.) Do not hyphenate when the noun follows the adjective, e.g. second lieutenant.

Hyphenate fractions, e.g. three-quarter, two-thirds.

Hyphenate secondary compass points, e.g. south-southwest but not main ones e.g. southwest.

Hyphenate compound words when not to do so would result in an ugly sound or confusion of meaning, e.g. cross-section, sea-eagle.

Hyphenate both terms in phrases such as short- and medium-range missiles. If a figure being converted is hyphenated make sure that the figure in the conversion is also, e.g. within a 10-mile (six-km) radius.

hydro

In general, no hyphen e.g. hydroelectric.

hyperthermia

Too hot. Think of '–er' as in very.

hypothermia

Too cold. Think that o rhymes with low.

Category: The Reuters General Style Guide

This page was last modified 15:45, 20 July 2009.