Wracketywrack
Definitely "racked," not "wracked."
Justin Rice to copy editor: “Stupid nerves!”
For as long as I can remember, AP has held that “rack” as a noun is a physical structure, and “rack” as a verb means to arrange on a rack or to torture or torment. And it further opined that “wrack” as a verb means essentially the same as “rack” as a verb, but that “rack” is preferred.
But even the strictest usage decrees may soften at room temperature.
First, AP relented on the spelling of “wrack” in the phrases “wrack and ruin” and “wracked with doubt.”
Two weeks ago, without fanfare, AP emailed an update to its online subscribers.
It adds this phrase to its entry on “rack, wrack”: “Also, nerve-wracking.”
I’m happy to see AP give on this, as it’s one of those arcane rules that make reporters and some readers roll their eyes. You can almost hear them thinking, “You are sooooooo 20th century.”
Or maybe just, “Huh?”
We’re all conditioned to silent-w spellings such as wreck, wrestle, wriggle, wreath and wring, so the wrack spelling just seems logical to many writers.
A quick search of The Free Lance-Star’s electronic archive shows that in the past 13 years, the AP-preferred “nerve-racking” spelling has made it into print 277 times, while the supposedly forbidden silent-w spelling, “nerve-wracking,” has gotten past the copy editors a pretty impressive 139 times. Many of those appearances, by the way, have been in stories produced and edited by The Associated Press.
I don’t think it hinders understanding one bit to write “nerve-wracking,” and I also don’t blink when I see it written “nerve-racking.”
As always, writers should keep their audiences in mind. Be aware that this phrase is still in dispute. In some formal contexts, the no-silent-w spelling “nerve-racking” is still preferred.
“Garner’s Modern American Usage,” for one, has not given in.
Author Bryan A. Garner writes: “Nerve-racking (= exasperating) is so spelled—not *nerve-wracking.”
The asterisk, by the way, is the symbol Garner uses for expressions “that are invariably poor usage.”
I can’t torture myself over this one, though. I’ll probably adopt the new AP rule and use “nerve-wracking” in my own writing. I will continue, however, to “rack” my brains—the spelling still preferred by AP in that phrase.
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