I thought they’d never ask.

There, on Twitter, from @APStylebook: “We're still looking for ideas for the 2011 Stylebook. Post your suggestions here: http://apne.ws/9jtgsw.”

This is [SPORTS METAPHOR ALERT!] a nice slow fat one right across the plate.

How about revising the entry on verbs, finally admitting that there is nothing terribly wrong in standard English with splitting infinitives, and certainly nothing wrong with placing an adverb between the auxiliary and the main verb? Man up, AP. You’ve fostered a superstition for years. Make good.

Maybe add some advice on the passive voice, since some people think every sentence with a form of to be is a passive construction, and few seem able to distinguish when it is appropriate. That would be useful.

How about revisiting sewage/sewerage? There’s nothing wrong with the latter term, even if some people have a puzzling difficulty in distinguishing between the pipes and the contents. You’d think the smell alone …

I asked Andy Bechtel at Chapel Hill whether his editing class would like to take on the AP, and maybe editing classes elsewhere should take up the challenge, rather than leave the matter in the hands of the grizzled peevers who usually show up for these operations.

Pick up your bats, kids. AP’s lobbing softballs.