Capital Sweetie?

[2ndchance]

Odd question guys.

During dialogue, if someone addresses someone with, sweetie, hunni, young lady, etc, should it be capitalised? I understand, thanks to J, how it works with Mum, Dad, etc, in both dialogue and exposition.

My thinking is that the same rules should apply to sweetie, but I suspect there may be differing views. You are kinda loosely addressing someone with these terms, but you are addressing him or her.

How about, if a comma preceeds a name referance, Capitalise it!?

It’s a bit odd to me, if you called someone by their name, lets say Steve, it will always be a capital S, irrespective, even if you were referring to them. Surely, the same should apply if you replace their name with Hun, Sweet, even Mum and Dad. I am hoping for a simple answer, one that says, capital all the way.

I have mum, or mother 927 times, hmmm. Editing, even in word 2007, with the search and replace facility, what a nightmare.

Steve

 

[Pyan]

I disagree with your first statement a little - I've seen plenty of non-capitalisation for mum and dad...

"Who was that, then?" "Oh, it was just my dad."

Likewise for terms of endearment...

"Did you remember to get some bread, darling?"

Used like this, capitalisation looks too top-heavy, so to speak, even after a comma:

"Did you remember to get some bread, Darling?"

(IMHO, of course...)

 

[The Judge]

Illogical, but lower case all the time for sweetie, sweetheart, darling, dear, hon, honey**, petit chou and all the rest of them (except when starting sentences, obviously).

** I really would avoid 'hun' and 'hunni' if I were you, unless we are reading something Rebecca has written, since it appears to be a spelling mistake.

 

[Ursa major]

What about titles?


To pick an example title, major**, at random, which of the following are correct?

1. "What do you say, Major League? I can imagine why you would want to stay silent on the matter."
2. "As you can see, Major League is not convinced."
3. "As you can see, the major is not convinced."
4. "As you can see, the Major is not convinced."
5. "That's right, isn't it, Major?"
6. "That's right, isn't it, major?"

For myself, I'd probably use numbers 1, 2, 3 and 5, and not 4 and 6.



** - or should this be Major?

 

[2ndchance]

Hmm, confused? I soon will be.

So, if you type nan, it somehow don't look right, surely Nan would be right. But gran looks okay, yet Gran is, err, wiping your nose.

As for major, what about Major Tom, or Judge Judy? Can we think of any other, oh yeah, The Judge. Then you have the Blue Square Premiership (real football).

I think I will go with common sence, I like hon, babe (ouch), darling, sweetie etc, all lower case. Keep the capitals for Names and the beginning of a sentance, unless her name is Honey! |Obviously|

What have I started?

Point taken and applied on hon, J.

Steve

 

[The Judge]

Ursa, by coincidence, a Major is my male protagonist, so I have pondered this very question at great length! (His surname isn't League, however.) My thoughts are:

To pick an example title, major**, at random, which of the following are correct?

1. "What do you say, Major League? I can imagine why you would want to stay silent on the matter." Yes
2. "As you can see, Major League is not convinced." Yes
3. "As you can see, the major is not convinced." Possibly, but I prefer 4
4. "As you can see, the Major is not convinced." Yes, to my mind
5. "That's right, isn't it, Major?" Yes
6. "That's right, isn't it, major?" Not for me, but this is how spellchecker wants it

For myself, I'd probably use numbers 1, 2, 3 and 5, and not 4 and 6.

The reason I differ on 3 and 4 is that there is only one of him, in the same way I'd have 'The King agrees with the Archbishop' with capitals for their rank/titles. If it was 'Get one of the corporals over here' then definitely lower case there. I think, as Teresa indicated on another thread, whichever you choose, the key is consistency.

 

[Parson]

I disagree with your first statement a little - I've seen plenty of non-capitalisation for mum and dad...

"Who was that, then?" "Oh, it was just my dad."

Likewise for terms of endearment...

"Did you remember to get some bread, darling?"

Used like this, capitalisation looks too top-heavy, so to speak, even after a comma:

"Did you remember to get some bread, Darling?"

(IMHO, of course...)

I was taught the Chicago school of grammar (at least that's what I think my professor called it.) But I remember this rule clearly, when Mom or Dad are used in a sentence it is capitalized unless it is proceeded by the word my, hence my dad is not capitalized.

You are right Ursa that capitalization of terms of endearment are not called for or considered correct.

 

[Ursa major]

You must be a mind-reader, Parson.

Ursa, by coincidence, a Major is my male protagonist, so I have pondered this very question at great length! (His surname isn't League, however.)

Miles away, was I?

There are three** POV majors in mine, although one of them gets promoted only to become a major once again (in WIP3, even though that character is not demoted and is not pretending to be someone else).

The reason I differ on 3 and 4 is that there is only one of him, in the same way I'd have 'The King agrees with the Archbishop' with capitals for their rank/titles. If it was 'Get one of the corporals over here' then definitely lower case there. I think, as Teresa indicated on another thread, whichever you choose, the key is consistency.

This was the use I was least sure about. (And having checked my WIP1, I use one of each. Now fixed!)

By the way, I tend to use contractions, e.g. Maj. League***, rather than spelling out the whole rank. As WIP2 has a lieutenant commander (and that promoted major in WIP1 becomes a lieutenant colonel), I'm sticking to this, if only to protect my fingers.



** - Two males, one female.

*** - Not a name I use either.

 

[The Judge]

I never thought of contracting 'major', but I did wonder about abbreviating 'colonel' to 'Col'. In the end I decided it looked too odd so I patiently type it out each time, but since it only crops up in dialogue, and I use his surname in exposition, it isn't as bad as it could be.

But -- sorry to hijack the thread further, Steve -- I do stumble on doctor and mister. I've decided doctor gets written in full for both his name "Doctor Kildare"** and elsewhere eg "get the Doctor here". But for some reason I can't bear to see 'mister' written in full, so I have "Mr. Kildare"*** and I make sure no one ever says anything like "come over here, mister" since "come over here, mr." would be ludicrous.

** no, not really

*** he got promoted to consultant surgeon

 

[Ursa major]

And to further hijack the thread, I have seen** a "rule" about when to use a full stop (period) on the end of a contraction, namely that where the end letter of the word is the same as that of the contraction, no full stop is required. For example:

Doctor - Dr
Mister - Mr
Lieutenant - Lt
​

but

Major - Maj.
​

I've seen both Col (based on Colonel) and Col. (based, I guess, on Colonel) on this side of The Pond, so would be most pleased if someone could enlighten me on this matter.


By the way, I understand that the US usage is to include the period more often (but as I'm not from the US, I don't exactly know how this works in practice.)




** - Don't ask me where: I have no idea. (And I'm quite prepared to be told that this is nonsense and that Maj League, without a full stop, is acceptable in the UK.)

 

[The Judge]

Have just looked up the full stop issue in my trusty ODE, and the result:

Shortenings, or abbreviations consisting of the first few letters of words, are usually spelled with a final full point (co., Oct., cert.) but those where the abbreviation ends with the last letter of the word tend not to be (Dr, Dept).

which I hadn't taken on board before, so thanks for that, Ursa.

I looked up 'col' and it isn't given as an abbreviation for colonel, only 'Col.' is (capital and full stop) -- 'col.' (lower case, full stop) being an abbreviation for 'column' apparently.

 

[Ursa major]

You're wlecome. (And I must admit, I use Col. for colonel.)


Anyway, sorry Steve. Back to the thread....

 

[Parson]

You must be a mind-reader, Parson.

I hate to admit how long it took me to figure out what you were driving at with that comment. Sigh! It was Pyan I was referring to and the major bear.

 

[2ndchance]

To take this thread in a slightly different direction! (he-he)

I have a couple of, cor' blimey guvnor', girls who were evacuated from London during WW2. In dialogue, one says something like, 'Fanks for the bread misses.’ Capital? I think so.

Overall, I like the capital Mum – Dad, unless it’s preceded by my, keeps it simple, is easy to apply, and looks correct. Elsewhere, loose terms, i.e. honey, darling, I’ve kept lower case. Fortunately, I only have one Major, who I only refer to during dialogue, and I’d already typed Major.

I think that overall consistency is the key.
Steve

 

[Mouse]

I always write 'missus' instead of 'misses' because that's another word anyway. Not sure about capitalisation on it. I wouldn't personally.

 

[Pyan]

I've decided doctor gets written in full for both his name "Doctor Kildare"** and elsewhere eg "get the Doctor here".

Now if I saw that out of context, I would assume you were talking about a certain Gallifreyan - I can't see anything wrong with "...get the doctor here."

 

[The Judge]

No, nothing wrong with it Pyan, but again, I've only the one doctor in the book, so I thought he deserved having a capital!

 

[Peter Graham]

I have a couple of, cor' blimey guvnor', girls who were evacuated from London during WW2. In dialogue, one says something like, 'Fanks for the bread misses.’ Capital? I think so.

I think not. The bottom line is that you capitalise when it's a recognised title or someone's name (including a frequently used nick name). So:-

Colonel Mustard

The Archbishop of York

Dr Andthemedics

Dave Ten Pints

So, when referring to your own mother, you are likely to say "Mum", as that is what you have always called her. For your purposes, it is her formal name. Therefore you capitalise it to reflect that.

But if you were talking about my mother, you would not say "Peter's Mum", as that's not her name or nickname. To you, her proper name would be Mrs Graham. So, you'd write "Peter's mum".

Missus (or missis) falls into the same category. Yes, it's derived from the formal Mrs, but it's being used in an informal context and not as a title or a formal name. Your jolly cockney mudlarks would use "missus" in much the same way they would use "mate", "chief" and "guv'nor" - a general term to refer to all people (here women) of a certain type. So you don't capitalise it, any more than you'd capitalise "alright, mate?".

Chim chiminee, chim chiminee, chim chim cheree,

Peter

 

[2ndchance]

You do make me smile Pete. Thanks for your opinion, that is just about where I'm at. Going through everyname, as we speak, including mum and dad, mother and father, and anyhing else I can 'fink of. Going square eyed in the process. And that includes the missing commas, i.e. 'Mum, what that twit doing?' Rebecca looked across the room and shouted, 'oy,' twit, mum said stop it.'

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

To answer it simply-no. It's not a title, it's a term of endearment, not a title like non-possessive Mom or Dad. Terms of endearment get no special capitalization.



Pyan pointed it out with "My mom or my dad" but those are possessive nouns, again, not a title. It is very different than non-possessive.