Lesson 1—capitalization conventions · 5:18am Aug 27th, 2013
Style time, my little ponies! Today, we're going to learn about style.
As we all know, ponies are a diverse bunch. Though we are all ponies, we have different nationalities, ethnicities, and heritages. And we have adjectives to describe things from or like reminiscent of these cultures. But it can be confusing, as these are really the only adjectives that we see coming. "The English are coming!" "This is part of French culture." "This is 'Murican soil!" This can be very confusing for people who use these adjectives. So, do we always capitalize adjectives referring to ethnicities and nationalities?
Not quite. From the 16th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style, 8.60: "Personal, national, or geographical names, and words derived from such names, are often lowercased when used with a nonliteral meaning."
Let's do some examples! No, don't run away. Pay attention. This important. You'll eventually see how important capitalization really is.
Ten arabic numerals:
Eleven Arabic numerals:
A slice of swiss cheese:
Stand of Swiss cheese:
The oxford comma:
You are ugly, fat, and supercilious.
The Oxford comma:
A lesbian night:
A Lesbian night:
scotch:
Scotch:
A white russian:
A white Russian
An irish car bomb:
An Irish car bomb:
That's all for today, My Little Ponies. Tomorrow's lesson is why Sometimes Alcohol is the Answer
THIS! Was glorious.
I see... While I admit that this was informative and relevant to my interests, I can't wait for tomorrows lesson. Teach me everything...
http://dashie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw8184_medium.jpg
I still don't know what "nonliteral" is supposed to mean here.
I used to get these right, until I decided to learn German. While most of the language is a blur to me now, the idea that all substantives must be capitalized somehow became universal to me – even when writing in other languages.