Ookla The Mok wrote:

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.

Using a noun as a form of address does _not_ mean that it is being used as a name.

(On a side note, I would, if proofreading in Mr. Chase's style a text containing
that sentence, write "{Great-Grandchild : My great-grandchild} is becoming
foolish." I do not consider it correct.)

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).

The above examples are quite correct -- 'Mother' et al., unlike 'Great-Grandchild',
are commonly accepted proper nouns -- but they are not, unfortunately, relevant.
One need not use a name, nor anything resembling a name, to address someone.

 "Yes, sir."
 "How fare you, stranger?"
 "Shut up, you twit."
 "Of course, my liege."
 "Such trinkets as these, O most precious jewel of the sands, are as nothing compared to your own beauty."

... sorry, got carried away there. ^_^

        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.

If 'Duck-Boy' is a pejorative nickname, it should be capitalized as a proper noun;
however, if it is just a descriptive noun, it oughtn't. The difference hinges on whether or not Ranma uses it commonly enough for it to be a nickname -- one can't just pull nouns out of the blue and call them names all of a sudden.

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

Flipping through a few books:
 "But the dragon doesn't like us, wizard!"
     -- _The Black Unicorn_, Terry Brooks
 "Look you here, sentry, and you shall see how I came ..."
     -- _A Princess of Mars_, Edgar Rice Burroughs

I have found others, mind you, but they're mostly words I'd as soon not quote...
addressing someone by other than name or title is generally considered rather rude,
and few people are merely _rather_ rude when doing so.

-- Aponar Kestrel

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