Economist Style Guide - Redress Information & Analysis

e
earnings Do not write earnings when you mean profi ts (try to say if
they are operating, gross, pre-tax or net).
-ee employees, evacuees, detainees, divorcee, referees, refugees but,
please, no attendees (those attending), draftees (conscripts), enrollees
(participants), escapees (escapers), indictees (the indicted), retirees
(the retired), or standees. A divorcee may be male or female.
e-expressions Except at the start of a sentence, the e- is lower case and
hyphenated:
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e-business
e-commerce
e-mail
When giving websites, do not include http://. Just www is
enough: www.economist.com
Computer terms are also usually lower case:
dotcom
home-page
laptop
online
the net (and internet)
the web, website and world wide web
See also cyber-expressions.
effect the verb, means to accomplish, so The novel effected a change in
his attitude. See also affect.
-effective, -effi cient Cost-effective sounds authoritative, but does it
mean good value for money, gives a big bang for the buck or just
plain cheap? If cheap, say cheap. Energy-effi cient is also dubious.
Does it mean thrifty, economical or something else? Effi ciency is the
ratio of energy put out to energy put in.