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Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

Euro zone? euro zone? eurozone? Eurozone?

English answer:

euro zone

Added to glossary by Suzan Hamer
Feb 24, 2010 14:14
14 yrs ago
45 viewers *
English term

Euro zone? euro zone? eurozone? Eurozone?

Non-PRO English Bus/Financial Business/Commerce (general)
Does anyone know the correct way to write this? Googling shows me so many options that it's useless. Is there some definitive reference for the correct way to write this?
Responses
5 +2 euro zone
4 +1 Eurozone or Euro Zone
4 Eurozone
References
Info
Economist Style Guide
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (1): Charlesp

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Discussion

Peter Skipp Dec 27, 2012:
The official name is euro area. Only the ECB seems to use it...
warren Feb 24, 2010:
Certainly an interesting topic, when I first saw the question my initial thought was Eurozone, as I was thinking of “Euro” as area rather than a currency and possibly I was mixing it up with the German word. Also, the term euro zone seems to feel familiar, as if I have heard it repeatedly, so when I saw the reference comment from Kim, I was surprised because I have no recollection of ever hearing the term euro area.
Suzan Hamer (asker) Feb 24, 2010:
Yes, to Craig, after I closed it (I agree too hastily, Kim), I thought I should have asked either or both of you to post your replies as answers so I could award points. That means of course I'm stuck with trying to figure out who to give the points to. Kim for being helpful and first? Or Craig for being helpful with a good reference. I'm on my way out the door, so will reopen this and ask you to both post as answers for points.... I agree Kim, it's nice just to be able to discuss terms and ask other peoples' opinions in a non-competitive/judgmental way.
Kim Metzger Feb 24, 2010:
Agree with Craig about leaving it open. What's the hurry? But I also find it refreshing to discuss terms calmly without the competitive edge.
Craig Meulen Feb 24, 2010:
Answers, discussion, references.... Actually, both Kim and I could have posted our info as 'answers', since we both gave a pretty clear answer to your question, "euro area" from Kim and that or "euro zone" from me. I posted as a reference with respect to Kim, who had modestly done likewise. But elsewhere I may well have posted the same as an 'answer' and since you had a very specific question, I think your question was indeed an "official KudoZ question". Often what I would do in your situation would be to keep the question open and suggest to the helpful colleague that they re-post their discussion or reference as an 'answer' so I can award them the points (which they had indeed earnt).
Suzan Hamer (asker) Feb 24, 2010:
I'm going to close this as a question, since I now have a satisfactory answer, or 2. For future reference, is it possible to post a question only as a topic of discussion? Not as an official Kudoz question, but as here, to request information from colleagues.

Responses

+2
4 hrs
Selected

euro zone

There are two issues here. One capitalisation. Two compound nouns.
1) There's no reason to capitalise currencies in English. Especially with common ones such as dollars, euros and yen.
2) We are talking about the 'zone' that uses 'euros', or the 'zone of euro-using countries', which becomes a compound noun in English, and these are not generally joined into one word. So it remains "euro zone". True, some common compounds do get written as one word, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

And to prove that at least someone reputable has the same opinion, there's the link to the Economist style guide below.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 Tage (2010-03-01 14:46:16 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

And today I read an article from another reputable source, the BBC, but with a different opinion - "eurozone"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/gavinhewitt/2010/03/...
Peer comment(s):
agree Kim Metzger : I'd go with The Economist.
1 hr
agree warren
1 hr
neutral Cilian O'Tuama : Times styleguide says: euroland (l/c), vernacular term for European single currency area; also eurozone (Grüße)
1 day 21 hrs
Hi Cilian, so its the battle of the heavyweights, The Times vs the Economist ;-)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you, Craig, and thanks for the link to the Economist."
8 hrs

Eurozone

I would say "Eurozone" (capitalized).

(or "euro area" )

Though I have seen it as "Euro-Zone" (also without the hyphen)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs (2010-02-24 22:46:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

What I meant is, notwithstanding the excellent note and information by Craig, is that I would say it should be one word, not two - and that it should be capitalized (as in Europe (not europe)).
Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurozone

Peer comment(s):
disagree Cilian O'Tuama : why capitalise it if the currency itself is not capitalised? Would you also capitalise dollarzone if it were a word?
1 day 17 hrs
agree Peter Skipp : definitely one word in line with copyediting developments. This is now almost uiversal usage. No need for an initial cap.
1036 days
Something went wrong...
+1
3774 days

Eurozone or Euro Zone

Contrary to popular opinion, I am strongly in favor of capitalizing Eurozone, either as one or two words. Setting aside the EU style guide, which applies only to EU documents, the general English convention is to capitalize place names, even if they are not "official" geopolitical entities. For example, south is generally not capitalized as a directional description, but the South (of the United States) is generally capitalized as the name of an unofficial region. It's also capitalized in place names like South America or South Africa. The Eurozone is absolutely a definite, recognized region. It's irrelevant that "euro" as a currency is not capitalized. When it's used to name a region, it should be.
Reference:

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/capitalization-rules/

Peer comment(s):
agree Patrick Weill
1121 days
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

8 mins
Reference:

Info

eurozone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurozone

The term ‘euro area’ is the official term in English for the group of countries that have adopted the euro as their single currency. All other terms, such as ‘euroland’ and ‘eurozone’, are discouraged in the official language style guide.
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/cash/symbol/index_e...
Note from asker:
Hmmmm. Thanks, Kim. In the text I'm editing, they use 'EURO zone' so I'm assuming they want to use 'zone' rather than 'area' (but I will tell them it's discouraged...and euro area is the 'official' term). So then the question remains how to write it correctly? One word or two? I see Wikipedia uses 'eurozone' but 'euro area'....I but don't regard Wiki as an authority on English... I guess going by the europa reference you gave whether I go with eurozone or euro area, no capitals are necessary.
Something went wrong...
47 mins
Reference:

Economist Style Guide

... recommends:
euro zone
euro area
Reference:

http://www.economist.com/research/styleGuide/index.cfm?page=805676&CFID=115318160&CFTOKEN=98237468

Note from asker:
Great! Thanks, Craig. Not only useful but gives me a reference to quote as a source for my decisions.
Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree Tina Vonhof (X) : Definitely two words.
3 hrs
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