I thoroughly enjoyed this fun, silly Snazzy Labs video:

Apple is famous for its pedantic product naming and lingo, but did you know it’s all kept in a lesser-known 243-page rulebook? In this ultimate tech collaboration, @LinusTechTips, @mkbhd, @ScottTheWoz, and Quinn from @snazzy compete to test their knowledge of Apple’s hidden terminology and naming conventions. @upgraderelay host, Myke Hurley, challenges us with real questions and scenarios based on Apple’s internal style guide to see who really knows the company’s most bizarre rules. Do you know Apple’s lingo better than some of YouTube’s biggest tech creators? Play along and find out if you can beat us at our own game! 

I went into this game expecting a perfect score. After all, I worked in Apple’s Product Marketing organization (in Developer Relations), where adherence to the Apple Style Guide was practically a requirement.

I’m also building a JAG’s Workshop Style Guide, modeled after the Apple Style Guide, to ensure editorial consistency on this site—and especially to resolve conflicts that arise with the Chicago Manual of Style, AP Stylebook, and Oxford Style Manual. 

So I was crushed by my actual showing: a mere 150 points out of a possible 210—enough to top the eventual winning score of 130 points, but still quite embarrassing.

My former colleagues must be appalled.

I got three questions wrong, and missed a couple in the final “two errors” round.

I distinctly recall Apple preferring portable computer and notebook computer, over concerns that “laptops” got very hot and could burn you. The October 2022 edition of the Apple Style Guide (available as late as January 2024) had these three entries:

notebook computer The preferred generic term for Apple portable computers. It’s OK to use notebook alone occasionally if the meaning is clear. You can also use portable computer, but when you refer to a specific model (such as MacBook Air or MacBook Pro), itʼs best to use the model name.

portable computer An alternative to notebook computer. Avoid using portable as a noun, except in informal contexts. The terms notebook computer and notebook are generally preferred for Apple portable computers.

laptop computer Avoid in favor of notebook computer, which is preferred, or portable computer.

This was the case until a March 2024 update, when notebook, notebook computer, and portable computer were all deprecated in favor of laptop.

The question about accessing Apple Pay on iPhone threw me, because Apple unexpectedly distinguishes between pressing a button once or more than once:

Use press to mean pressing the side button once; use double-click or triple-click to mean pressing it more than once.

This was true for devices with a Home button, but was expanded in March 2024 to include all buttons you can press more than once.

Lastly, I was confident the display on the front of Apple Vision Pro was called EyeSight, but that’s just the name of the technology. The physical part of the device is just called the front display.

Round 3’s “two errors in the sentence” was especially challenging because I usually wanted to make more than just two fixes.

I was disappointed I missed tap instead of tap on, and turn instead of rotate, but it was the final question I found especially problematic. The incorrect sentence:

The Mac Studios are powerful, with M2 Ultras chips inside.

Clearly pluralizing Mac Studios and M2 Ultras is wrong: it should be Mac Studio (singular) or Mac Studio computers (or devices as the “official” answer suggested); and M2 Ultra (singular) or M2 Ultra chips(plural):

The Mac Studio computers are powerful, with M2 Ultra chips inside.

But I’d also drop the definite article, stick with the singular, and reference the chip differently:

Mac Studio is powerful, with the M2 Ultra chip inside.

And I’d go even further:

Mac Studio with the M2 Ultra chip is powerful.

If this is causing your mind to warp, imagine what it’s done to those of us who wrote (or write!) this way for a living.