:: suzanne yada ::

You can name anything "Ground Zero," and then it will be capitalized: a candy bar, a pub, a disco. But the term has been around a very, very long time as a common designation of the closest point to a disaster or explosion. If one is speaking of the site of the 9/11 attack in NYC, then it can be capitalized. Whenever it *is* capitalized as the name for the site of World Trade Center attack, it will not be sufficient *just* to capitalize it. It should be made clear from the context also that it is referring to that spot in particular and with reverence -- not to another disaster's ground zero, or candy bar, or pub. No need to bring international sensibilities into the mix at all. Same with Twin Towers. Classification, in language, is by function. If you treat something in English as a proper noun, capitalize it. If you're treating it as a common noun, don't. No book -- AP or otherwise -- is going to be able to prescribe every function every specific user has for everyone one of our one million or so words.

Adding to Dave's comment, news written in AP style when transmitted through the AP News network reach a much wider audience than Americans in America. When you say twin towers, granted my first thought is of those that stood in NY, but my immediate second thought is of those that still stand in Malaysia (the Petrona towers). They're known as the twin towers in common parlance. They're not THE twin towers. Just like the ones in New York weren't the Twin Towers. It's truly a well-connected globalized world we live in now. We can't afford to be just all about America and events here...and our language/style needs to reflect that.

Woah- to say AP is for US usage is, I think, a major error. There is no equivalent UK English alternative; the major international styleguides are all based in the US for some reason. Those of us who spell correcltly :) still need a relliable reference guide. I think the AP has realised it is an international body, and has stopped acting like a regional US service appropriately.

True, it may be myopic, but the AP Stylebook is specifically for the U.S. in any case. That aside, I can see why Bob's reasoning -- and yours -- makes sense. But how do you feel about Twin Towers vs. twin towers? AP's "Ask the Editor" column says it should be lowercase in all instances, and that argument is harder to hold. Unless there is another Twin Towers disaster that I don't know about...?

I can see why it's generic. Your argument of "in modern context, when people talk about Ground Zero, it's generally assumed that it's in reference to Sept. 11" is myopic -- doesn't apply to people outside of America in general.

Maybe they just mean don't hyphenate it?

I can see why ground zero is lower case. There's more than one. Before 9/11, ground zero was known as the point where an explosion took place. Until 9/11, Hiroshima was ground zero. My guess is, as least for people in Hiroshima, it's still ground zero.