The Israeli newspaper. (No apostrophe.)

A petition requiring those detaining someone to justify it. If the term is used, define it.

A skilled amateur computer enthusiast. The term is now mostly used to describe a person who has unlawfully penetrated private computer systems or committed other illegal acts on the Internet.

Capitalize, but lowercase hell.

In datelines: THE HAGUE, Netherlands, May 31 (UPI) --

On ships and at naval stations ashore, flags are flown at half-mast. Ashore, flags are flown at half-staff.

(Hyphenate if not listed in Webster’s New World.)

After Edmund Halley, an English astronomer who predicted the comet's appearance about every 75 years. It was seen most recently in 1986 and 1910.

No apostrophe.

Militant Palestinian organization formed in 1987. Hamas is an Arabic acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-lslamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement) .

One hangs a picture, a criminal or oneself. Use hanged (past tense or passive) to refer to executions or suicides, hung for other actions.

A hangar is a building. A hanger is for clothes.

The Jewish Festival of Lights, an eight-day commemoration of the rededication of the Temple by the Maccabees after their victory over the Syrians. It usually occurs in December, but sometimes falls in late November. This spelling is an exception to Webster's New World.

Only one r.

A computer storage system with several rigid disks. See floppy disk.

In reference to computers, hardware consists of the boards, electronic components and other equipment that make up a computer. Software tells the computer what to do. See software.

Do not use these terms. Use cleft lip instead of harelip.

See polls.

The capital of Cuba stands alone in datelines.

Do not abbreviate. The state comprises 132 islands. Collectively: the Hawaiian Islands. See state(s) .

The largest island is Hawaii. Honolulu and Pearl Harbor are on Oahu, where 80 percent of the state's residents live. Honolulu stands alone in datelines.

The form for others: PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii Dec. 7 (UPI) --

Residents of Hawaii are generally called Hawaiians, but in Hawaii, the term is generally restricted to descendants of the original Polynesian settlers of the islands. Any other inhabitant is usually called an islander or Hawaiian resident, or is described as someone who lives in Hawaii. Make the distinction if it is useful.

The time zone in Hawaii. The state has no daylight-saving time. see time and Alaska Standard Time.

Headquarters is in Honolulu.

Lowercase this abbreviation for hazardous materials: "We're sending in a hazmat team," the mayor said.

Acceptable on second reference for high-definition television.

Lowercase personal pronouns referring to the deity.

headlines When writing headlines, think carefully about how to convey the most important facts in a succinct and artful fashion; use strong active verbs.

Headlines are limited to 42 characters, including spaces. UPI uses normal capitalization in headlines. Do NOT capitalize every word. Editors should not simply use every headline suggested by writers. Recast the head if it’s poorly written.

It is necessary to bend some style rules in headlines (use of numerals, for instance). But try to follow style as much as possible.

For instance, always follow style and put periods in U.S., U.N., U.K. and D.C. in headlines. These appear frequently in heads, often one after another. Do NOT knock out the periods to make a headline fit. Rewrite the head if necessary.

Always use single quote marks in heads: Police seek ‘mad-dog killers’

Try to avoid abbreviating states, but if this must be done, use the stylebook abbreviation: Calif., N.Y., Ariz., etc. Do not use postal codes.

Sportswriters often use city/state abbreviations in their headlines: N.Y., N.J., etc. But note that LA has no periods. Follow the stylebook.

It’s sometimes necessary to shorten countries but don’t create unusual breakdowns of these names. North Korea could be N. Korea. But don’t use NKorea just to make a head fit.

In a headline it’s OK to write Ft. Bragg or Mt. Everest, even though UPI style is to spell out Fort and Mount.

Use common sense on abbreviations. It's OK, for instance, to use DoD in a headline for Department of Defense, even though UPI does not abbreviate this in stories. But do not make up an abbreviation that no one would recognize (like DD).

Avoid colloquialisms or slang (oaters, kids, etc.). ‘Kids’ might work in a feature head, but never use it like this: 3 kids die in crash.

Avoid unusual or awkward abbreviations: noms (for nominations), cong. (for Congress), opp (for opposition). Don’t use terms that are unfamiliar to many readers: journo (for journalist). Heads should attract readers to stories, not turn them away.

Some other specifics:

Numerals: The general rule is to spell out numbers under 10. But it’s OK to use the numerals in heads.

Million, billion: Spell them out unless unavoidable. In that case, abbreviate like this: $36B, $6M. Do not use m, b, bil, bn, bln or any other variation. Never abbreviate trillion.

Thousands: Write it out if possible: Cubs' Jones fined $50,000 for tossing bat. If you must abbreviate use a capital K: Jones fined 50K for tossing bat at fans

Use either a singular or plural verb with headquarters, whichever fits the occasion Avoid awkward uses of this plural noun. Do not use headquarter, headquartered.

Right: The company set up headquarters on the south side. The company has its headquarters in Dallas. Company headquarters has approved the new contract. The company’s headquarters are in Chicago. Headquarters is in Detroit

Wrong: The company will headquarter in the town. The troops headquartered in a mountain cave.

See HMO.

See administrative law judge.

Always lowercase.

Capitalize the proper names of planets, stars, etc.: Mars, Arcturus, the Big Dipper, Aries, Halley's comet. See earth and planets.

Lowercase sun and moon, but if their Greek names are used, capitalize them: Helios and Luna. Lowercase nouns and adjectives derived from the proper names of planets and other heavenly bodies: earthling, jovian, lunar, martian, solar, venusian.

A prefix meaning 100. The form before a vowel is hect-. A hectare is a metric surface measure equal to 100 ares, 10,000 square meters, 2.47 acres, 107,639.1 square feet or 11,959.9 square yards. To convert to acres, multiply by 2.47 (5 hectares x 2.47 equals 12.35 acres).

See metric system.

See dimensions.

The heir whose right to a certain property or title cannot be denied if he outlives the ancestor.

But capitalize Hades.

Capitalize Northern Hemisphere, Western Hemisphere, etc. Lowercase standing alone or in plural uses: the hemisphere, the Eastern and Southern hemispheres.

Two r's.

Do not use this pronoun to refer to nations or ships, except in quoted matter. Use it instead.

Use it only in direct quotations.

Lowercase herculean unless you are referring to a feat performed by Hercules himself.

Do not use here to refer to the dateline community of a story. If a reference must be made, repeat the name of the community.

Heroics means melodramatic, pretentious, extravagant behavior or language. Heroism means bravery, the action of a hero.

The narcotic, originally a trademark.

Do not abbreviate. The international unit of frequency, or one cycle per second, is the same in singular and plural. If its meaning is not clear, explain it in parentheses: 15,400 hertz (cycles per second).

SeeBosnia-Herzegovina

HP is acceptable in second reference. Headquarters is in Palo Alto, Calif. Note: HP acquired Compaq Computer Corp. in 2002.

Militant Shiite movement in Lebanon. The name means Party of God.

Acceptable on second reference for the Department of Health and Human Services.

high-definition television HDTV may be used on second reference.

Capitalize the agency if a specific reference is clear: the Kansas Highway Patrol. Or: TOPEKA, Kan., April 1 (UPI) -- Leaders of the Highway Patrol said, etc. Lowercase the patrol and highway patrolman.

Do not abbreviate. The forms, as appropriate: U.S. Highway 1, U.S. Route 1, U.S. 1, Route 1, Illinois 34, Illinois Route 34, state Route 34, Route 34, Interstate Highway 495, Interstate 495.

Hyphenate if a figure follows a letter; no hyphen if a letter follows a figure: I-495, Route 1A.

Journalese. Overused for increase, raise, etc.

A Japanese seaport largely destroyed Aug. 6, 1945, by a U.S. atomic bomb, the first ever used in warfare. The explosion had the force of 20,000 tons (20 kilotons) of TNT. It destroyed more than 4 square miles and killed or injured 160,000 people.

Use it only in direct quotations.

Do not presume maleness in stories, but avoid the constructions he or she and his or hers in an effort to include both sexes. Use masculine pronouns to refer to a word that may be either male or female: A reporter attempts to protect his sources. (Not his or her sources; but reporter, not newsman.) Or recast the sentence: Reporters attempt to protect their sources.

West Indies island between Cuba and Puerto Rico.

A historic event is important. It stands out in history. Any occurrence in the past is a historical event. The article before historic is a, not an.

Capitalize proper nouns and adjectives in describing periods of history: ancient Greece, classical Rome, the Victorian era.

Elsewhere, some cultural and historical periods and events are capitalized: the Atomic Age, the Pliocene Epoch, Prohibition, the Reign of Terror, the Stone Age, the Middle Ages, the Boston Tea Party, the Exodus (of the Israelites from Egypt).

Some are not: antiquity, the neolithic period, the fall of Rome, the gold rush, the ice age, the industrial revolution, the westward movement.

See separate entries in this book. If this book has no entry, follow the capitalization in Webster's New World, using lowercase if it is one of the options listed. If there is no listing in Webster's New World, use lowercase except for proper nouns and adjectives.

Avoid the redundant past history.

The coach told him to hit and run. He scored on a hit-and-run. She was injured in a hit-and-run accident.

Note the double-h.

Not Adolph.

Acceptable on second reference for human immunodeficiency virus, the cause of AIDS. See AIDS.

Acceptable in all references to health maintenance organization. The plural is HMOs (no apostrophe).

The spelling of some common words and phrases: blue line, faceoff (n., adj.), face off (v.), goal post, goal line, goaltender, hat trick, power play, power-play goal, red line, slapshot, shorthanded, two-on-one break.

A hat trick is the scoring of three goals in one game by one player. A team is on a power play when the opposing team is shorthanded because of penalties.

After Dr. Thomas Hodgkin, the English physician who first described the disease of the lymph nodes.

A holding company’s main assets are the securities it owns in companies that actually provide goods and services. Its usual purpose is to control several companies by holding a majority of their stock.

Capitalize special calendar events: New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Groundhog Day, Washington's Birthday, Easter Sunday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, etc.

The former country was divided into two provinces of the Netherlands: North Holland and South Holland. Use Holland only in historical references. Note: Hollands (no apostrophe) is a type of gin made in the Netherlands and holland (lowercase) is a cotton or linen cloth.

Stands alone in datelines when used instead of Los Angeles on stories about films and the film industry.

A trademark for a local anesthetic.

Lowercase.

The Roman headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church.

Headquarters is in Atlanta.

The killing of one human by another.

Murder is malicious or premeditated homicide. Do not say a victim was murdered until someone is convicted of murder. Instead, use killed or slain. Do not describe someone as a murderer until convicted of the charge in court.

Manslaughter is homicide without malice or premeditation.

A killer is anyone who kills with a motive of any kind.

An assassin is a killer of a politically important person.

To execute is to kill in accordance with a legally imposed sentence. See execute.

Homographs are words that are spelled alike but have different meanings: bow of a ship and a bow from the waist. Homonyms are words that are pronounced the same, but have different meanings: bow and bough.

Homo sapiens See genus/species.

See gay.

Stands alone in datelines.

A term of abuse directed toward whites by blacks. Avoid it.

The city in Hawaii stands alone in datelines.

Do not use Dr. for those whose only doctorate is honorary.

Disregard such titles as those bestowed by British honors lists (Sir Charlie Chaplin, Dame Margo Fonteyn) unless clearly pertinent to a story. See nobility.

Note hyphens. See foot-and-mouth disease.

Not hookey.

In its proper context, something must be filled with hope. Do not use for it is to be hoped.

Right: Hopefully, we waited for the storm to pass. (We are filled with hope that the storm will pass.)

Wrong: Hopefully, the storm will pass. (The storm cannot be filled with hope.)

Capitalize proper names of horses and races: Secretariat, Kentucky Derby, the Preakness. See animals.

See frankfurter.

Exclamation.

Conventional means of lifting a missile out of its silo by the rocket propulsion system. See cold launch.

Lowercase, including the circuit linking the United States and the former Soviet Union.

An Internet search engine. See search engine.

A showoff.

Capitalize in the name of a specific hotel: the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Lowercase an indefinite reference: The city has a Sheraton hotel.

Hotel and Restaurant Employees union or Bartenders union is acceptable in all references. Headquarters is in Cincinnati.

As in the hourlong meeting.

Lowercase most non-governmental uses: a fraternity house, a house of worship, the house of Tudor, bring down the house, like a house on fire.

Capitalize proper names of organizations and institutions: the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church.

Capitalize a reference to a specific legislative body: the U.S. House of Representatives, the Massachusetts House, the Virginia House of Delegates, the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the House of Burgesses. Or:

BOSTON, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- The House adjourned for the year.

Lowercase plural uses: the Massachusetts and Rhode Island houses.

The city in Texas stands alone in datelines.

A trademark for a vehicle that travels on a cushion of air.

A short-barreled cannon that fires shells on a high trajectory. The form: 105mm howitzer. See weapons.

For HyperText Markup Language. It is the programming language used to create most Web pages.

For HyperText Transfer Protocol, the Internet standard for exchanging information.

For HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure, a variation of HTTP that is used to access a secure Web server.

Acceptable on second reference for Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A trademark.

Either is acceptable.

Capitalize as part of the name assigned to a storm: Hurricane Hugo. Do not use the presence of a feminine name as an excuse to invoke sexist images.

Wrong: Fickle Gloria teased the Virginia coast.

Hurricane stories should include latitude and longitude of the storm center as well as its location in relation to recognizable landmarks.

A hurricane is a rotating wind system with a minimum sustained surface wind speed of 74 mph or more. Hurricanes are formed east of the international dateline. Typhoons, which have the same criteria, develop west of the line. When a hurricane's winds drop below 74 mph, it becomes a tropical storm.

A hurricane eye is the relatively calm area in the center of the storm.

The hurricane season is the part of the year with a relatively high number of hurricanes, June through November.

A hurricane warning advises that a hurricane or its dangerous effects, dangerously high water, perhaps with exceptionally high waves, are expected in a coastal area within 24 hours. A hurricane watch alerts specific area that a hurricane may pose a threat.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami provides information about hurricanes in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. The Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center is in San Francisco; the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu.

The term packing winds is low-grade journalese. Avoid it.

Use husband, not widower, in referring to the spouse of a woman who dies. See (widow, widower)

Saddam on second reference.

This prefix is generally solid: hyperactive, hyperphysical, hypertension.

There are no rules that can cover all cases of hyphenation. Many hyphenated words are listed in these pages, but it is not within the scope of this book to provide individual entries for all hyphenated words a reporter is likely to use. See Webster's New World College Dictionary for words not listed here.

General guidelines:

1. Compounds not listed separately in the dictionary usually take a hyphen before a noun, but no hyphen after it: A first-quarter touchdown, a touchdown in the first quarter. But never use a hyphen when the compound includes very or an adverb ending in -ly: a very good time, an easily remembered rule.

2. Use a hyphen whenever ambiguity would result if it were omitted: She will speak to small-business men. (The normal spelling is businessmen, but small businessmen is unclear.) Also: He recovered his health. He re-covered the leaky roof.

3. Use a hyphen if a compound modifier -- two or more words that express a single concept -- is listed separately as an adjective with hyphens in Webster's New World. (Example: well-known), the compound is always hyphenated: She is a well-known woman. She is well-known. Also: The child is soft-spoken. The censor is self-appointed. The children are quick-witted.

4 . Some prefixes and suffixes are hyphenated. See prefixes and suffixes.

5. Some numerals, odds, ratios, etc., are hyphenated. See Numerals.

6. Suspensive hyphenation: the 5- and 6-year-olds attend morning sessions.

7. Do not hyphenate common phrases unless they are used as compound modifiers before a noun.

Right: They confronted each other face to face.

Wrong: They confronted each other face-to-face.

Right: It was a face-to-face confrontation.

Some frequently used compounds:

aftereffect

anti-war

backup

biweekly

breakaway (n, adj.),break away (v.)

break-in (n.), break in (v.)

breakout (n), break out (v.)

breakup (n.), break up (v.)

buildup (n.), build up (v.)

byproduct

call-up (n., adj.), call up (v.)

cave-in (n.), cave in (v.)

checkup (n.), check up (v.)

cleanup (n.), cleanup (v.)

close-up (n, adj.), close up (v.)

counterattack

counterespionage

counterintelligence

counterrevolution

counter-terrorism

coverup (n.), cover up (v.)

cutback (n.), cut back (v.)

cutoff (n, adj.), cut off (v.)

die-hard

front-line (adj.), front line (n.)

front-page (adj.), front page (n.)

front-runner

front-running

full-time (adj.), full time (v.)

fundraiser

fundraising (n., adj.)

hard-line (adj.)

hardliner

lineup (n.), line up (v.)

long-term (adj.)

longtime (adj.), long time (n.)

long-shot (adj.), long shot (n.)

makeup (n., adj.), make up (v.)

midafternoon

midair

midmorning

multimillion

multinational

part-time (adj.), part time (v.)

peacekeeper

peacekeeping

peacemaker

postwar

post-World War II

pre-dawn (adj.)

pretrial

prewar

pullback (n., adj.),

pull back (v.)

pushup (n., adj.), push up (v.)

re-elect

rule-making

runoff

runnerup

running mate

rush-hour (adj.), rush hour (n.)

self-defense

semifinal

shake-up (n.), shake up (v.)

short-term (adj.), short term (n.)

speechmaker

speechmaking (adj.)

speechwriter

speedup (n.), speed up (v.)

stand-in (n.), stand in (v.)

standout (n.), stand out (v.)

takeoff (n.), take off (v.)

takeover (n.), take over (v.)

trade-in (n.), trade in (v.)

well-being

well-known

well-to-do

whistle-blower

workout (n.), work out (v.)