Chicaago, Chicaago, my kind of style
Wednesday, December 1st, 2004 11:27 pmHaving experimented with various academic style guides (APA, MLA etc.), Chicago remains my favourite. It's partly because the CMS people realise that most academics these days write with computers, and so do not recommend a format which requires that authors painstakingly recreate the effect of a typewriter. It's also because their guidelines on language are generally sensible, and occasionally amusing. For example, the current edition of their Q&A page contains the following:
Q. The menu in our cafeteria shows that enchiladas are available “Tues.–Fri.” However, when I ordered one on a Wednesday, I was informed that enchiladas are available on Tuesday AND Friday, not Tuesday THROUGH Friday. When I informed the cafeteria manager that this was incorrect, she seemed shocked and refused to change the sign. Please help determine who is correct!
A. Although the sign was incorrect, I’m not sure you should annoy the person who provides the enchiladas.