How to Become a “Capital-ist”

 

Capitalize the following:

 

• Months and days of the week, but not seasons: April, Saturday. summer. winter.

 

• Names for countries, places or languages, but not school subjects other than languages or common nouns modified by proper adjectives: algebra. American history. Also capitalize words that come from place-names (Mexican food, Buffalo wings, Caucasians [comes from the “Caucasus Mountains”], French fries, African-print dresses.)

 

• When referring to African American people, the word "Black" is capitalized. The reason for this is that in this case, "Black" refers to a nationality or ethnic group, just like "Hispanic," "Romanian," or "Apache." The word "white," when used to refer to "Caucasians" is not capitalized, since "whites" are not a nationality or ethnic collective ("whites" can be American, Mexican, Iraqi, or whatever). When "black" is used to refer to a skin tone, or to the black race in general (all the black people in the world), it is not capitalized, since, just like "white," it does not refer to a nationality or ethnic group, and the imaginary “colors” of so-called "races" are not capitalized.  Optional alternate rule: capitalize both “Black” and “White” when referring to ethnic backgrounds.

 

• High schools and colleges when used as part of the proper name, but not names of schools or classes used as common nouns: Stanford University. sophomore, this university, History 1312, majoring in history, a history text..

 

• Titles before a name, but not titles without a name: Dr. Bates, a doctor, the president of the club (except the President of the United States or the head of another country that is named): also high ranking federal officers: Queen Elizabeth, the queen of England.

 

• Mother, father, uncle or aunt when used as a title or in place of a person's name, but not with possessive pronouns: my dad. Aunt Jane. Where is Father?
• Important words in the title of books, themes, or movies, but not article adjectives (a, the, an), conjunctions (but, or, nor, yet, and, so, for), or short prepositions (to, by, for, on) unless used as the first word of the title: The Ocean and its Mysteries. The Grapes of Wrath; History of the Middle Ages.
• "God" is always capitalized if you are a religious believer. Any pronoun used to refer to the divinity is also capitalized. (Example: Believers might write, "Our God is in His heaven, where He reigns forever," or "Allah is the only God, and Muhammad is His prophet.") If you are a religious believer and fail to capitalize when needed, you are insulting your own faith and deity. If you are a nonbeliever, you have a choice to capitalize or not as you prefer, but you must be consistent. Generally writers do not capitalize when referring to divinities in whom nobody believes (Example: "Zeus was the god of lightning and thunder"), but many capitalize out of respect when referring to deities whom their audience or other people believe in.

·         North, south, east, and west when they name definite geographical regions, but not when they indicate general locality or directions: a winter in the South. south wind. walking north. Also, “the Left” and “the Right” as political groups or tendencies, but not as directions: the Left supports women’s rights; turn left on Piedras.

 

• All proper names, trademarks and proper nouns, but capitalize common nouns only when they form part of a proper noun: The Democratic Party, Ivory soap. The Green Zone, Kleenex tissues, a Santa Fe train.

 

Core Text and Inspiration: Susan Spence   Graphic anon.  Rev. O.W. 05/09