Transliteration

Ruth Walker devotes her latest "Verbal Energy" to the perils of transliteration, after readers of the Christian Science Monitor complained about the spelling of Kiev.

It's a problem you've no doubt come across at your own newspaper -- Falluja? Fallujah? Fallouja?

In most instances, the way you write it won't matter as long as your paper is consistent.

But Walker tells a story of when politics can come into play as well -- and why news outlets usually stick to the middle.