How do you spell out .com?
Posted by: Ivy Wigmore
AP style, Business writing, CIO, dot.com or dot-com, grammar, Quiz, spelling
Which is correct?
Both the _______ domain and Site Director Margaret Rouse celebrate their birthday March 15.
a. dotcom
b. dot.com
c. dot-com
Answer: c, if you follow AP style.
Explanation:
Although you’ll see all three spellings online, if you want to be AP compliant, choose “dot-com.” The story is that they preferred that style over “dot.com” to prevent people from reading as “dot dot com.”
Hmmm… I just discovered another good reason not to use “dot.com.” Apparently some applications will consider it a URL all by itself and make it a link to nowhere. So, yeah, don’t bother clicking on that.
Alex J. Newman provides an AP style cheatsheet and glossary for Internet-related terms.
The SEO blog celebrates with a collection of dot-com trivia.
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