Capitalisation in titles.

Capitalisation in titles.

Author
Discussion

OldGermanHeaps

Original Poster:

4,642 posts

193 months

Wednesday
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Not normally a grammar nazi, bit whenever I see a post where someone capitalises every word in a sentence, as I am putting a voice to the words in my head I imagine them to be some sort of nutjob that you would get off your train a stop early just to get away from.
I know titles should have every major word capitalised, but now when I see too many titles on the page it again makes me read it all in the nutter voice.
Read this and tell me I amn't going crazy:

To me that looks unprofessional as hell. Am I wrong?

John D.

19,232 posts

224 months

Wednesday
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Annoys me as well.

Some on here would have made this thread title:

'Capitalisation IN titles'


Spare tyre

11,282 posts

145 months

Wednesday
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That’s just standard TIFAQ

keep up

OldGermanHeaps

Original Poster:

4,642 posts

193 months

Wednesday
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Reading more of that site, I am guessing someone prompted a low quality generative AI and didnt bother proofreading. Hope I dont need to use the insurance...

thinkofaname

319 posts

148 months

Wednesday
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If I may be a semantics Nazi, this is a matter of orthography (conventions of written language), not grammar. Languages had grammar before writing was invented.

But yes, the example is just wrong. It also annoys me when people capitalise every single word in the titles of songs, films, books etc. Like Return Of The Jedi instead of Return of the Jedi.

Panamax

6,151 posts

49 months

Wednesday
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"The Germans started it!"
"No we didn't."
"Yes, You Did, You Invaded Europe With Your Capitalised Nouns!"


Separately, for those who who can tell proper from common,
.... east or East?
.... winter or Winter?

Or one for Pink Floyd fans,
.... The Dark side of the Moon?
.... The dark side of the moon?
.... The dark Side of the moon?
.... The Dark Side of the Moon?
.... The Dark Side Of The Moon?

Put three shovels against the wall and take your pick.

bigpriest

2,057 posts

145 months

Wednesday
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Sections 1-7 rather than descriptive groupings, that's helpful smile

Voldemort

6,871 posts

293 months

Wednesday
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THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

Eric Mc

123,849 posts

280 months

Wednesday
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OldGermanHeaps said:
Not normally a grammar nazi,
Should that not be "grammar Nazi" - or even "Grammar Nazi"?

skyebear

896 posts

21 months

Wednesday
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The average Jet2 customer has spelling errors on their face tattoos so they're unlikely to take issue with incorrect capitalisation on a website.

Spare tyre

11,282 posts

145 months

Wednesday
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skyebear said:
The average Jet2 customer has spelling errors on their face tattoos so they're unlikely to take issue with incorrect capitalisation on a website.
Standing in a crowded room and I can′t see your face


This lyric finally makes sense now, thanks for clearing it up for me

Panamax

6,151 posts

49 months

Wednesday
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^^^ I like the connection! Utterly hateful tune.

lizardbrain

2,817 posts

52 months

Wednesday
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It's something I've through about a lot. Pros and cons but on balance I go for capitalisation

It just makes a title feel more like a title

capitalising the questions though is wrong, but your thread title does specify titles.

Oberheim

249 posts

6 months

Wednesday
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OldGermanHeaps said:

To me that looks unprofessional as hell. Am I wrong?
You are right. That really jars with me too.

Here's a good summation of the relatively simple rules for title case (taken from a general style guide that I created for the medical writers who work at my company).

When Title Case is required, follow these guidelines:
• Capitalise the first word
• Lower case conjunctions (e.g. and, but, for, nor, or, so)
• Lower case articles (e.g. a, an, the)
• Capitalise verbs (e.g. Are, Be, Can)
• Lower case prepositions (by, in, to, about, with, over)
• For hyphenated words, always capitalise the first element and capitalise the second element if it’s a noun (e.g. Second-Century) or an adjective (Placebo-Controlled). Do not capitalize the second element if the first element is a prefix (anti, non, pre, self, etc.) or if both elements together constitute a single word (e.g. Long-term).


OldGermanHeaps

Original Poster:

4,642 posts

193 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
lizardbrain said:
It's something I've through about a lot. Pros and cons but on balance I go for capitalisation

It just makes a title feel more like a title

capitalising the questions though is wrong, but your thread title does specify titles.
I called them titles because they are clickable links taking you to seperate pages of the same title.

PorkInsider

6,176 posts

156 months

Wednesday
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Oberheim said:
Here's a good summation summary of the relatively simple rules for title case (taken from a general style guide that I created for the medical writers who work at my company).
Can't let you off with that on a thread like this.

Oberheim

249 posts

6 months

Wednesday
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PorkInsider said:
Can't let you off with that on a thread like this.
thumbup

PorkInsider

6,176 posts

156 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Oberheim said:
PorkInsider said:
Can't let you off with that on a thread like this.
thumbup
biggrin

Warhavernet

69 posts

2 months

Yesterday (00:20)
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lizardbrain said:
It's something I've through about a lot. Pros and cons but on balance I go for capitalisation

It just makes a title feel more like a title capitalising the questions though is wrong, but your thread title does specify titles.
FTFY