Friday, April 1, 2011

Comment on capitalization

HERE'S A COMMENT from Rob Crompton, a member of my Freelance Writers and Editors network on Yahoo.

Rob Crompton said...
I tend to dignify academic disciples with a capital - like proper names. So Maths, Philosophy etc. Otherwise I agree. But what about those words which are sometimes names and sometimes general nouns referring to the same person? In my current novel, for instance, I have: "For goodness' sake, Dad, don't bring that one up again." Later, in narrative: His Dad was always ready to remind him of silly juvenile mistakes. The question that exercises me is, how to get it right and still appear consistent.


Rob and I disagree on the academic disciplines, and that's fine. I took English and journalism, among other classes, in college. I love journalism, but I feel no urge to uppercase it.

As for Dad: I love you, Dad, but my dad drives me nuts. There's no reason to uppercase dad in the second instance.

Thanks for the comment, Rob.
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