Which style guide rules do you refuse to follow?

Editors and writers often take on the role of enforcer when it comes to our company’s (or client’s) style rules. Whether we use the AP Stylebook, the Chicago Manual of Style, or a house style guide, we can explain, cite, and apply the rules with ease.

But sometimes even the enforcers want to break the rules. Think carefully. Are there any style guide rules that you refuse to follow? Any style standards you will not adopt? Is it a rule that just recently changed or one that never made sense to begin with? In my own work, I routinely break three rules. They are:

“More than” versus “over”

This was one of the first AP style rules I learned when I worked for my hometown newspaper in high school. Over is a preposition and is used to refer to spatial relationships. The space shuttle flew over my house. More than should be used with numerals: “I refuse to pay more than $5 for an app.” The two words should not be used interchangeably, as in, “I refuse to pay over $5 for an app.”