Guardian and Observer style guide: V
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
v
for versus, not vs: England v Australia, Rochdale v Sheffield Wednesday, etc
vagina or vulva?
The vagina is an internal organ, the muscular tubular organ that connects the genitals to the uterus; not the same thing as the vulva, the female genitals.
As the reader who pointed out one of the many examples of our getting this wrong said: “I am sure an article that used the term testicles to describe the penis would be corrected. Why do you accept this error for women?”
V&A
abbreviation for Victoria and Albert Museum
Vajpayee, Atal Bihari
former prime minister of India
Val d’Isère
Valentine’s Day
valley
lc, eg Thames valley, Ruhr valley, the Welsh valleys, valley girl (California); but Silicon Valley
Valium
TM; a brand of diazepam
Valparaíso
Valuation Office Agency
(VOA after first mention) an executive agency of HM Revenue & Customs, it compiles business rating and council tax valuation lists for England and Wales but not Scotland, where the job is done by the Scottish Assessors
Vanessa-Mae
violinist
Van Gogh, Vincent
(1853-90) Dutch artist; note that as with most Dutch names it is Van Gogh when just the surname is used (a Van Gogh masterpiece) but van Gogh with the forename (a masterpiece by Vincent van Gogh)
Van Rompuy, Herman
Belgian ex-president of the European Council. The Van is capped up when his forename is used, ie Herman Van Rompuy
Vanuatu
archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, formerly New Hebrides; its people are Ni-Vanuatu, not “Vanuatuans”
vapour
but vaporise
Vargas Llosa, Mario
Peruvian writer and politician, born 1936; his son Álvaro is also a writer
variant
the correct term for a different form of a virus; avoid using the term strain unless in direct quotes. In relation to Covid-19, significant variants in the UK have included Omicron (B.1.1.529) and Delta (B.1.617.2)
Vaseline
TM; call it petroleum jelly
VAT
value added tax; no need to spell it out
Vatican City
no “the” (but the Vatican)
Vaughan or Vaughn?
Frankie Vaughan (late singer), Johnny Vaughan (broadcaster), Michael Vaughan (cricketer), Sarah Vaughan (late singer).
Matthew Vaughn (film producer), Robert Vaughn, Vince Vaughn (actors)
VE Day
8 May 1945; VJ Day 15 August 1945
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency
Vosa after first mention. Body that regulates the MoT test, formed by a merger of the Vehicle Inspectorate and Traffic Area Network
vehicle tax
not “road fund licence” (abolished in 1937) or “road tax”, which tend to be used by petrolheads to suggest, wrongly, that this duty is hypothecated for road maintenance. All taxpayers pay for roads, not just motorists.
The oddly fascinating history of ‘road tax’
Velázquez, Diego
(1599-1660) Spanish painter
Velcro
TM
veld
not veldt
venal
open to bribery
venial
easily forgiven
venerable
worthy of reverence, not just old
venetian blind
Venice Biennale
thereafter biennale
veranda
not verandah
verdicts
recorded by coroners, returned by inquest juries
Verkhovna Rada
(supreme council) Ukraine’s parliament
vermilion
verruca
not verucca
very
usually very redundant.
“Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very’. Your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be” (a quotation often attributed to Mark Twain but now thought to be the advice of William Allen White)
Vespa
scooters
Vesta
curries
veterinary
veto, vetoes, vetoed, vetoing
Viagra
TM; the generic is sildenafil citrate
vicar
a cleric of the Anglican church (which also has rectors and curates, etc), not of any other denomination.
A priest writes: “A vicar is a person who is the incumbent of a parish, and the term is a job description in the same way that editor is a job description. All editors are journalists but not all journalists are editors. In the same way, all vicars are priests, but not all priests are vicars. Some priests are chaplains; some (like me) are forensic social workers; some are retired; some are shopworkers; some are police officers”
vice-chair, vice-chancellor, vice-president
vice versa
vichyssoise
If you are not sure how to spell it, simply warm it up and you’ve got a nice bowl of leek and potato soup
video link
video game
preferable to computer game, and two words, although Sheffield is the home of the National Videogame Museum
videotape
noun and verb, although normally shortened to video or tape; the two are interchangeable - Did you video that programme? No, I taped something else
vie, vying
Vietnamese names
These are written in three parts eg Tran Dai Quang (family name/middle name/given name); on second mention use the given name eg Quang (except in leading articles: Mr Quang)
Vientiane
capital of Laos
Villa-Lobos, Heitor
(1887-1959) Brazilian composer
virtuoso
plural virtuosos
virus
not the same as a bacterium, but we often confuse the two
vis-a-vis
no accent
vocal cords
not chords
Vodafone
voiceover
voilà
volcano
plural volcanoes
volcanology
not vulcanology
Volgograd
Russian city known as Tsaritsyn until 1925 and Stalingrad from 1925 to 1961
von der Leyen, Ursula
the president of the European Commission. Do not cap up the v or d when just her surname is used, unless it starts the sentence. So, for example: “The Brexit talks brought von der Leyen to despair.”
voodoo
use for fictional sorcery or metaphorical trickery, eg, statistical voodoo on the figures
Voodoo
Use for African-based religion also practised in the Caribbean and southern states of the US; but use relevant spelling when referring to the religion in specific ountries: Vodou in Haiti, Vodum in Brazil, Vodú in Cuba, Vodun in west Africa and Vudú in the Dominican Republic
vortex
plural vortices
vote of confidence
if a confidence motion is tabled by the government in parliament it is referred to as a vote of confidence. If it is tabled by the opposition it is a vote of no confidence. In either case it is fine to refer to a “confidence vote” as shorthand in furniture.
If 15% of Conservative MPs write to the chair of the party’s 1922 Committee it triggers a vote among Tory MPs of no confidence in the leader
voting systems
lc, but may be abbreviated after first mention, eg first past the post (FPTP), alternative vote (AV), single transferable vote (STV)
vulnerable people
not “the vulnerable”, and not to be used as a synonym for disabled people. Generally used in the UK to refer to adults who may be at risk of neglect or abuse because they need care and support, and to whom the state has a safeguarding responsibility.
In relation to coronavirus, use the term clinically extremely vulnerable people.
vuvuzela
not vuvuzuela
