On Saturday, December 14, 2002, at 02:10  AM, The Wanderer wrote:

Michael A Chase wrote:

      "*Well, {great-grandchild : Great-Grandchild},*" the crone 
whispered softly.
"*It appears you have succeeded.  I must admit, I had my doubts
that you would return from the mountain.  You are one of very few
who have managed to reach the Ancient One.*"

I'm not going to comment on every one of these, because there are just
too many, but I appear to be in fundamental disagreement with Michael
Chase on this point. He seems to be of the opinion that any reference
such as the one he flags above should be capitalized; I find it almost
universally unnecessary, and frequently prefer the uncapitalized form to
the capitalized one.

The capitalization may indeed be necessary if the person speaking means
the term either as a name or as a title, rather than simply as some
other form of descriptive noun; however, in other instances - such as,
as best I can tell, every instance Mr. Chase has flagged in this chapter
along with at least one he hasn't - its necessity is much less certain,
and its utility still more questionable.

This is, however, a rule that Michael isn't making up. Forms of direct 
address and nouns used as names must be capitalized. Cologne is using 
"Great-Grandchild" as a name for Shampoo, not as a descriptive noun. If 
she were to say "My great-grandchild is Shampoo" it would not be used as 
a name and should not be capitalized. But if she said something like 
"Great-Grandchild is becoming foolish" she would be using it as a name.

This situation comes up commonly with "Mother" and "Father." For 
example, if you were to say "I want to go home to my mommy" it would not 
need capitalizing, but if you said "She isn't as smart as Mommy" it 
would need to be capitalized (and "She isn't as smart as my mother" 
would not).

        Ranma slipped past them with practiced ease.  "Hey, I'm not
engaged to no one, {duck-boy : Duck-Boy}!" he denied, also with 
practiced
ease.

This one is another example of the rule Mr. Chase appears to adhere to,
to which I objected above. Here, the term in question is clearly neither
a name nor a title but simply a descriptive noun; as such it does not
need to be capitalized.

But Ranma *is* using "Duck-Boy" as his name. If he were to say "Mousse 
is a duck boy" that would be a simple descriptive noun. If he were to 
say "That duck boy is a nuisance" it also would be a descriptive noun. 
But if he said "Duck-Boy is a nuisance" he would be using the term as a 
name, and such usages should be capitalized.

Why is this a rule? I really don't know, but it is standard in 
professional writing.

Peter


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