Complete tangent here, y'all. Need some help.

So I have this interview for a PT proofing gig for a jewelry company which would be perfect, and I think I have a really really good chance of getting it. It would be a PERFECT on-site addendum to my Wordslingeuse biz. And we need the money. Oh, my, yes...

So, F2F interview and proofing sample exercises tomorrow. AP style. I'm a CMoS and MLA expert and haven't used AP in a while. Took 15 quizzes online, but don't have and can't afford the book until I get the job, you know.

So.

What dictionary does AP generally want utilized? I'm seeing a ton of phrases hyphenated in their latest catalog, some of which wouldn't be in CMoS. And I'd like to check before I went in tomorrow, get a feel.

2014, they're still anti-Oxford comma, right?

I mean, I know some things will be unique to the company's in-house style guide, but I like to be prepared. I know that's a shock...

Any help you guys can give, I really appreciate!

I have bacon and leftover turkey at home. I want a clubhouse. I just lack the lettuce, tomato and bread for it. (Also by mayo is past due, but it looks fine.)

Can you go in and flatout tell them "I'm familiar with multiple style guides, and I want to make sure I don't mistakenly follow the wrong rules. You wouldn't happen to have a copy of the AP Style Guide I could glance over, would you?"

Here's a really good reference the Dept Chair gave us when I went back to grad school last summer:

[link]

This page doesn't seem to address the serial comma specifically - but one of their sentences uses the serial comma:

[link]

And it says this, which is exactly my feeling re serial commas:

11. Use commas wherever necessary to prevent possible confusion or misreading.

I'm not sure on the dictionary...

Unexpected but obvious downside to having all-black accessories in my purse: I either need a flashlight or empty out the whole thing to find what I'm looking for in the gaping, shadowy maw of the thing.

Okay, technically, the sentence using the serial comma is about the serial comma - they just don't use the phrase:

5. Use commas to separate three or more words, phrases, or clauses written in a series.

AP style does not use the Oxford comma, and since the vast majority of my writing has used AP style, neither do I.

My favorite AP style rule:

It is drunken, not drunk, driving.

Thanks, guys!

Connie, I did tell the guy who did the phone interview with me yesterday that I am more familiar with CMoS. I plan on actually taking my computer with me (it's a wee one, slips into my interview bag) and even though they probably won't let me use it, tell them:

"I have exemplary prooreading skills, but since I *am* a meticulous proofer, I would normally have the 2014 AP Style guide, the in-house style guide and X dictionary called up in tabs on my work computer. EVERY proofreader has to check multiple sources while proofing, no matter how long they have been editing. Any errors I make during this sample wouldn't be errors I made with my normal workflow set up, and within a few days of working with your team and getting a feel for your in-house preferences, I am confident my error rate would be low to zero. And my usage of checking multiple sources doesn't impede my speed; it increases it in the long term, because then I don't have to look up that particular query again."

Or some such.

(Guys, I'm NERVOUS! I am completely in control of my skills and am a hell of a good interview, but I haven't NOT been my own boss for years! Even though this is so flexible it actually, incredibly would work well with my weird insomnia/depression stuff that's made 40 hour, 8-5 jobs such a disaster for me.)

I don't think I got why people ate raw tomatoes until I was, like fifteen, because of the weird, mushy, unripe ones that taste like soap. Then, I finally got a good one.

Heh, Connie, in doing my quizzes and studying, I found that it's verboten now in AP to use the phrase "illegal immigrant," since the word illegal should refer to actions and not states of being or persons.

I was all YAY!