The 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style is coming out this fall, and there are some monumental changes in store for history majors as well as anyone who loves footnotes. The change that is sure to cause the most ripples is the direction to no longer use “ibid” when citing a source you just cited. For those of you who don’t know, “ibid” is an abbreviation of the Latin “ibidem,” which means “in the same place.” It’s super useful when you are writing about a single source. Still, the powers that be at the Chicago Manual of Style think that “Latin” is too dead of a language for “whatever generation comes after Millennials,” so they showed “ibid” the door. As for me, I like “ibid,” and lament its loss. It makes me feel academic and historical.
Another change in the new edition is sure to cause seismic waves in the academic community (P-Waves, not S-waves). The bigwigs in Chicago have decided that it is no longer necessary to capitalize “internet,” and there is no longer any reason to insert a hyphen in “e-mail,” so “email” is now the approved syntax for electronic mail that you receive at your blank@blank.blank address. Welcome to the future, Chicago! Say hi to my mom. She’s been here for years.
The other change of note that is setting academia on fire is the proscription that the pronoun “they” instead of “he or she” is discouraged for formal writing. OK, nothing new there, but wait…there’s more! Should a human person mention that he or she would prefer the pronoun “they,” then it is ok to use since they wish it. Congratulations, Chicago. You’re accepting of the idea that gender is not binary, and may in fact be fluid, depending on the perception of the person being written about. I mean it when I say, “Welcome to the future.” You’ve been holding us back.
About that “ibid,” though…
-Patrick Botts
Epic Footnotes 