Here I collect my notes about the writing rules I consider the most appropriate. These notes include my preferred spelling of transliterated words. When I am uncertain about punctuation and grammar, I consult R. M. Ritter’s The Oxford Guide to Style, R. W. Burchfield’s revised third edition of Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Jan Svartvik’s Engelsk universitetsgrammatik, and the style guide of The Economist. For the proper spelling, I rely on the Oxford English Dictionary.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian ruler.
America rather than United States, but both are permissible.
anti-Semitism, dislike of Jews, noun. anti-Semite, someone who dislikes Jews, noun. anti-Semitic, adjective.
Bashir Assad, Syrian ruler.
beth din, rabbinical court of Judaism. battei din, plural. Italicize to stress the Hebrew origin. Capitalize both words if referring to a specific beth din.
Britain, not UK or United Kingdom or Great Britain. Briton, noun. British, adjective.
burqa, Islamic dress that covers the whole head and body, with holes for the eyes only.
CE for Common Era and BCE for Before Common Era. Never AD or BC.
Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan ruler.
Europe rather than European Union, but both are permissible.
health care, noun. health-care, adjective. Never healthcare.
Halacha, Jewish law, noun. Halachic, adjective.
Hezbollah, Lebanese terrorist organization. Not Hizbullah.
homophobia, dislike of homosexuals, noun. homophobe, someone who dislikes homosexuals, noun. homophobic, adjective.
Islamism, term for any theocratic ideology in Islam. Islamist, adjective. Islamism and Islamists should not be confused with orthodox Islam and orthodox Muslims that hold more traditional beliefs than other movements and people in Islam.
Islamophobia, dislike of Muslims, noun. Islamophobe, someone who dislikes Muslims, noun. Islamophobic, adjective. Always capitalized.
Judea and Samaria rather than the West Bank. The latter might be added in round brackets for clarification. Refers roughly to the area Jordan occupied in 1950 and Israel captured in 1967.
the Koran, holy book of Islam, noun. Koranic, adjective.
Muhammad, prophet and founder of Islam.
Binyamin Netanyahu, Israeli politician.
the Netherlands, country in Europe. Never Holland.
Muammar Qaddafi, Libyan ruler.
al-Qaeda, Islamist terrorist organization.
Yitzhak Rabin, the late Israeli politician.
the Riksdag rather than the Swedish Parliament, but both are permissible.
Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. Not Sabbath.
v for versus.
xenophobia, dislike of strangers or foreigners or of anything foreign or strange, noun. xenophobe, someone who dislikes strangers or foreigners or anything foreign or strange, noun. xenophobic, adjective.
