P

Capitalise it only if you’re talking about a Cub Scout Pack. Any other packs (for example, of wolves) or the verb should be lowercase.

One word, please.

Wherever you can, spell out ‘page’ in full then leave a space before the number, for example, ‘page 16’. If you’re really, really struggling for time or space, ‘p16’ is next best.

Your palate is the roof of your mouth or your sense of taste, a palette is that thing artists mix paint on, and a pallet is the wooden frame you might expect to see on forklifts in a warehouse (or upcycled into a coffee table in someone’s living room).

Double ‘l’, just like panelled and panelling

People who are pansexual have a sexual attraction towards others that isn’t limited by sex or gender.

There’s a hyphen, but there are no accents.

Not every young person lives with a parent. Try to get into the habit of saying ‘parents and carers’ to make sure everyone’s included.

Is the proper name, but as long as you spell it carefully it’s OK to just call it ‘Parkinson’s’.

With a hyphen.

Is lower case, including when it’s talking about Scouts taking part in a jamboree.

Call the people who support badges or help us out in other ways ‘supporters’, not partners. The exception is our A Million Hands partners.

Lower case in organisation names, for example, the Conservative party and the Labour party.

One word; the plural is passersby.

A few tricky verbs can be spelled two ways, for example, smelled or smelt. There’s no strict rule here; technically they’re both right. We prefer -ed endings though, so stick to those. If you’re using an adjective (a word that describes someone or something), there’ll be a correct answer. It’s always ‘burnt toast’, ‘spilt milk’, and a ‘learned person’.

Capitalise it only if you’re talking about a Scout Patrol (a smaller group of Scouts within a Troop who look out for one another, and help each other grow). Any other patrol (for example, of security guards) or the verb should be lowercase.

Capitalise it only if you’re talking about the leader of a Scout Patrol.

Now, we can use this to describe any tent a Patrol (or even a Six) uses – some might prefer to use a dome tent with ‘bedrooms’ off the main area, for example. Traditionally, Patrol tents were most likely to be Icelandic or stormhaven style tents, with triangular sloping roofs.

There’s no need to spell it out – PDF is fine (it stands for portable document format, in case you were wondering).

The national park in central England. It covers parts of the counties of Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, and Cheshire.

To pedal is to move by working the pedals of something, usually a bike. To peddle is to try to sell something by going from place to place, or to try and sell illegal drugs or stolen items. Be careful – if you call a cyclist a peddler (or a pedlar), they might be a bit cross.

It’s often better to use ‘older people’, unless you’re specifically talking about the group of people who claim pensions. Never describe an individual as a pensioner, because it defines them by their non-participation in the workforce. Ask what job they used to do, then describe them as, for example, a ‘retired baker’ instead.

Not persons.

If you can use English instead of this Latin term, please do. For example, ‘the menu costs £25 a head’ or ‘gather two beanbags for each person playing the game’. The exception is ‘miles per hour’ but you’d usually abbreviate that to mph anyway.

Use the % symbol instead.

Check, check, and check again. If the proportion of people understanding percentages goes from 10% to 14%, this is not a 4% increase. It’s an increase of four percentage points, or a four point increase. If something you’re edited claims that something rose or fell by a certain percentage, be wary, and ask the person who wrote it to double check.

Not a taboo topic, and not dirty, shameful, or scary. You’re allowed to say words like ‘period’ – you don’t need to find a euphemism. Avoid gendered language – not all women have periods (and not everyone who has periods is a woman). You don’t necessarily need to spell this out (sometimes, doing so detracts from the point you’re trying to make); just choose to say ‘people who have periods’ or ‘people who menstruate’ rather than ‘women’, or ‘young people’ instead of ‘girls’.

Capitalised for the Nights Away Permit, Camping Permit or Adventurous Activity Permit. Lowercase for a permit holder, or any other mention of permit.

This is a term from Policy, Organisation and Rules (POR). The personal enquiry may include a criminal records check (through the Disclosures and Barring Service, Disclosure Scotland, or Access NI).

Doctor of philosophy, awarded across many academic fields.

But the plural is phenomena.

See numbers.

Two words, please.

You’ll hear everyone in Creative talking about this a lot. The Plain English Campaign believe everyone should have access to clear and concise information – and we agree. That’s why we avoid jargon and say things in the simplest way possible. Plain English involves really easy things like keeping your sentences short and active, and choosing the simplest word to do the job. For a helping hand, check out the Plain English Campaign’s guide and A to Z of alternative words.

Capitalise the names of Earth and our neighbours: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus. Pluto is capitalised too, but it’s a dwarf planet, not a planet. Sometimes it’s helpful to remind people that scientists decided it was a dwarf planet, not a planet, in 2006.

Not ‘forward planning’ – pretty much all planning is forward-looking.

Both singular and plural. Don’t forget to capitalise the names of Pokémon, for example, Eeve, Charizard, and, of course, Pikachu.

It’s (yet another) trademark. You can use it if you need to, as long as you capitalise it.

Don’t capitalise, even when you’re naming specific forces such as ‘West Midlands police’. Exceptions include the British Transport Police and Royal Military Police. Police forces are normally plural, so you’d say ‘West Midlands police are investigating’. The Metropolitan police (plural) should be shortened to ‘the Met’ (singular) after the first mention – ‘The Metropolitan police are in London; the Met is responsible for law enforcement in 32 London boroughs’

Are all lowercase, from the dog unit to the fraud squad.

The full titles of Scouts policies are capitalised, for example, the Anti-bullying Policy.

Write in out in full the first time with the abbreviation in brackets (and don’t forget that single comma). Just call it POR after that. 

Don’t use this term (or the abbreviation PC). Although it’s supposed to mean avoiding doing things that marginalise people who are disadvantaged, it’s more often used as an insult (by people who are trying to make a point that’s neither political nor correct).

Is lower case, as are ‘papacy’ and ‘pontiff’. Capitalise his full title: Pope Francis.

Are both trademarks. It’s better to say ‘portable cabin’ or ‘portable toilet’ instead.

Another trademark. ‘Sticky note’ often does the job instead. You can use Post-it note if you really need to, but spell it right with the capital and hyphen.

It’s only OK to use this to describe the Native American custom. It’s not OK to use it to describe any other meeting.

Practice is the noun, practise the verb. For example, ‘we practised for ages before we put our plan into practice’.

Pre is often not needed as a prefix. Things like pre-booked and pre-ordered mean the same thing without the prefix, so drop it.

It’s OK to end a sentence with a preposition. We write like we talk, and it’s far more natural to say ‘which magazine was your article published in?’ than ‘in which magazine was your article published?’.

It’s only capitalised in a title (for example, President Biden). Otherwise, it’s lowercase, for example, Joe Biden, the US president.

If it’s less than £1, just use the number of pence with the lowercase ‘p’ pence sign (for example, 25p or 50p) – don’t add a full stop after the pence sign unless it’s at the end of a sentence.  If it’s £1 or more, just £ sign alone is used (for example, £4 or £5.25). Never use both signs in the same price.

In writing, try not to use zeros; for example, £14, not £14.00. Sometimes, for example, if you’re listing menu prices with everything aligned the same, it’s OK to list something as £14.00 if the items above and below aren’t priced as full pounds.

LGBTQ+ pride is about a celebration of LGBTQ+ communities and the promotion of equality.

June is the month chosen as Pride month because it was the month of the Stonewall riots.

Just like president, it’s capitalised in a title (for example, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak). Otherwise, it’s lowercase; for example Rishi Sunak, the prime minister of the United Kingdom.

The first time you mention a Prince, Princess or member of the royal family, use their full title. 

Call ‘HRH Prince George of Wales’ his full title on first mention - he can be ‘Prince George' after that.

Call ‘HRH Princess Charlotte of Wales’ her full title on first mention - she can be ‘Princess Charlotte' after that.

Call ‘HRH Prince Louis of Wales’ his full title on first mention - he can be ‘Prince Louis' after that.

Call ‘HRH The Princess Royal’ her full title on first mention – she can be ‘Princess Anne,’ or ‘The Princess Royal’ after that. 

Call ‘HRH Princess Beatrice, on first mention - she can be ‘Princess Beatrice' after that.

Call ‘HRH Princess Eugenie on first mention - she can be ‘Princess Eugenie' after that.

Call ‘Prince Archie of Sussex’ his full title on first mention - he can be ‘Prince Archie' after that.

Call ‘Princess Lilibet of Sussex’ her full title on first mention - she can be ‘Princess Lilibet' after that.

Call ‘HRH The Princess Royal’ her full title on first mention – she can be ‘Princess Anne,’ or ‘The Princess Royal’ after that. 

Never describe Wales as a principality. A principality is a country ruled by a prince or princess – modern examples include Andorra, Monaco, and Lichtenstein.

A principle is fundamental truth, a rule or belief that governs behaviour, or a general theorem or law that has lots of applications. Principal means first in importance (or head of an educational institution, or lead performer).

You prise something open or away when you use force to move it. You get a prize as a reward for doing something great or winning a competition. Prize is lowercase in names like the Booker prize and the Nobel prize.

It’s a brand name, so say ‘glue stick’ instead.

Means wasteful or extravagant – not a returned wanderer. People are often confused because of the parable of the prodigal son in the Bible, but he’s prodigal because he wasted his inheritance, not because he wandered off (or returned).

It’s program when talking about computer programs. Otherwise, it’s programme. It’s a lowercase ‘p’ unless you’re using the term ‘Scout Programme’ in full.

This team oversees and supports the delivery of high-quality programmes. They promote and support Top Awards, as well as section programmes, when events are best run at a County level. 

They also support Sections at a District level, bringing volunteers together to enhance the programme for young people. 

A Programme Team might be one team, or it could be made up of a few sub-teams. Some Scout Active Support Units will become sub-teams of the Programme Team, where their focus is on activities, rather than support.

These volunteers are part of the team who run events at a County level, bringing volunteers together to enhance the programme for young people.

Many people will make up Programme Teams, either formally or informally. This will depend on what works best for you locally.

Means abundant or fruitful. It’s a positive attribute, so shouldn’t be used to describe anything negative (for example, don’t say ‘a prolific robber’).

Capitalise it, including section specific Beaver, Cub, or Explorer Scout Promises. Remember that there are several variations on each section’s Promise, as we’re open to people of all faiths or none.

A word you can use instead of a noun (for example, he, she, they, or it). Always respect the pronouns individuals use (and talk about the pronouns people ‘use’, not the pronouns they ‘prefer’, as it’s not just a matter of preference). It’s never appropriate to use ‘it’ to refer to a person. They can be used as a singular pronoun.

But don’t get it confused with ‘subediting’. If you ask someone to proofread something, they’ll skim through and mark any errors. If they subedit it, they’ll correct errors, rejig and reword bits, and spruce up your tone of voice.

A member or follower of any of the western Christian churches that are separate from the Roman Catholic Church by the principles of the reformation. Protestant churches include Baptist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran churches.

Never use to describe Northern Ireland. Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland. It’s made up of nine counties, six in Northern Ireland and three in the Republic of Ireland (Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan). People in Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan live in the province of Ulster, but not in Northern Ireland, so they wouldn’t be part of Scouts UK.

A volunteer’s role is provisional until they’ve completed all the steps in their joining journey on scouts.org.uk.

Previous name: Pre-provisional/Provisional Appointment. We’ve removed ‘Pre-provisional’ as a status, so every volunteer’s role is provisional until their role is made full.

Not prussiking, for the method of getting up or down a rope with two loops attached to it by a special knot (the prusik knot). The prusik knot tightens when weight is applied and slackens when it’s removed, so the loop can be moved along the rope. You learn something new every day.

If you want to say something at the end of a letter after you’ve signed off. Capitalise both letters – but it’s not ‘P.S.’. 

See titles.

The full name is ‘Safe Scouting and Emergency Procedures’. It supports people to make Scouts safe and contains the procedures for dealing with an emergency.

PVA stands for ‘polyvinyl acetate’. Make sure you actually mean PVA glue (the gloopy white stuff) – if you don’t, just say ‘glue’ or ‘glue stick’ instead.