One-off style question for my brothers and sisters

I'm just curious as to whether anybody knows why AP makes it U.S. in copy and US in headlines (and this morning, my local newspaper followed suit, prompting this).

Before anybody goes and does any hound-releasing, I know I could fire off an Ask the Editor to AP, but I'm figuring I might get an entertaining (but knowledgeable) answer here. I'm figuring Frank Ridgeway or somebody will say, "Well, in 1943, a Linotype operator in New York spilled hot coffee in his lap while typing a story about the US war effort and neglected the periods for expediency's sake, and his boss, J.J. Winkle, decided it looked better that way" or something like that.

Anybody have the answer?

 

To make headlines shorter, and therefore enable them to be bigger. And it does date back to the old days of setting type, etc.

What I'd really like to hear is the AP's justification for U.S. and U.K. having periods, but EU not having them. (I agree with not having periods in EU, by the way. It looks stupid if you add them. But I'd like to know if there's a reason.)

 

This also is why I generally dislike headlines in all caps.

 

Don't worry, they'll change it again in a year when they want to sell more style guides.

 

Good point generally, but this US business has been with us a long time. The typesetting notion makes sense -- although AP sets no type anymore ....

 

I have no idea. We have our own stylebook and follow AP only when our in-house style does not address it. Our style is U.S. in heds, U.S. in body type as a modifier and United States as a noun in body type (not U.S., an exception to AP).

My feeling is that on a lot of style points, valid arguments can be made a couple ways. The best in-house stylebook I ever used acknowledged this in the preface and then said something like, "The purpose of this book is not to create such arguments but to settle them." Generally, I prefer that arbitrary approach: "Because that's how our newspaper wants it."

 

Heck, I still can't figure out why it's always "U.S." but never "U.S.A" or "USA" (except on Olympic jerseys and mastheads of national newspapers).

And why is it "God Bless America" instead of "God Bless the United States of America"