Yahoo
(the company) and not "Yahoo!" - ie we drop the exclamation mark.
Yangtze
is our preferred spelling for the Chinese river.
years
When writing about tax or financial years or football seasons etc, our preferred style is 2010-11.
With schools, we refer to Year 4, Year 7 etc.
Yellow Jersey
(in cycling) ie initial caps.
Yemen
and not "The Yemen".
yoghurt
most shops these days might sell "yogurt" but we should use the version with an "h".
young offender institution (updated August 2024)
is our preferred description. Lower case unless used with the name, as in Hollesley Bay Young Offender Institution. Not young offenders' institution, and institution rather than institute.
Yugoslav
and not "Yugoslavian".
Yugoslavia
This federation of six socialist republics disintegrated during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. It was made up of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. (Kosovo declared itself independent of Serbia in 2008, but its secession is rejected by Serbia.) Historical references should be to the former Yugoslavia.