Q. Current guidelines on French capitalization in CMOS are mostly directed at an all-French context. In the case of an English text with a heavy dose of French proper names, it feels a bit awkward to leave the first word in a name such as “théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin” with a lowercase t. What does the University of Chicago Press do in these cases?
A. The advice in Chicago is supposed to highlight conventions that can be retained when importing bits of French into an English-language context, and capitalization is one of these conventions. But an initial article like le or la is most often changed to an English the, so to use your example, we’d refer to the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin (starting the name with a capital T) even if, in a French context, it might be referred to as le théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin (the theater’s website, however, capitalizes that first t).
To take another example, you might refer in English to the Bibliothèque nationale de France or, for short, the Bibliothèque nationale, both of which reflect French capitalization (which is evident in the abbreviation BnF, with a lowercase n). That would normally be Chicago style—that is, we’d retain the lowercase n in English. But it would arguably be clearer to refer to the Bibliothèque Nationale, with a capital N, so that readers unfamiliar with French capitalization would understand where the name begins and ends. Some editors depart from Chicago style for such terms (and apply English-style caps, a.k.a. headline style or title case) for this very reason.
Note, however, that for the title of a book or article or other work, which would normally be set off from the surrounding text by quotation marks or italics, French capitalization would always be retained (see CMOS 11.27). But for the name of a theater or a library or the like, you could make some exceptions for the sake of your readers.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. In CMOS 9.48, on numbered places of worship, shouldn’t the example “Twenty-First Church of Christ” read as “Twenty-first Church of Christ”? Why is the second number uppercase?
A. The word “first” in “twenty-first” is an adjective, so it gets a capital F as the second part of a hyphenated compound in the name of an organization or the title of a work—or in a street name or whatever else would normally be capitalized. See CMOS 8.161, which also says specifically to capitalize the second element in a hyphenated spelled-out number. This advice was new to the 16th ed. (2010); until then, CMOS would have advised “Twenty-first,” but our editors agreed that the convention for lowercase wasn’t strong enough to continue to allow for an exception to the rule about adjectives. “Twenty-first” isn’t wrong, then, but it’s no longer Chicago style.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Do you recommend capitalizing named cocktails or other things that are given whimsical, as opposed to utilitarian, names? I’m thinking of things like “Sex on the Beach” or “Florida Tracksuit” that are not strictly proprietary. My inclination is to capitalize to highlight that the phrase is not to be read literally, but is in fact a name, like Coca-Cola, even if it isn’t trademarked.
A. We agree with both your inclination and your logic. Whether you name your cocktail or your cockatoo, that name generally gets treated as a proper noun and capitalized. As you suggest, readers will be less likely that way to get the mistaken impression, however fleeting, that something intimate is happening on the sand or that someone might be about to drink a workout ensemble.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Dear Sir/Madam, Is the article of the country Gambia capitalized or not? Is it “The Gambia” or “the Gambia”? The information regarding this question is conflicting. Thank you!
A. CMOS usually treats an initial the before the name of a country or other such entity as part of the surrounding text (see CMOS 8.45). Some countries get an article but others do not, usually as a matter of common usage (e.g., the United States of America, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, but Costa Rica, Estonia, and China).
It’s rare, on the other hand, for an initial “the” to be considered a formal part of a geographic name. Among cities, there’s The Hague (in the Netherlands) and The Dalles (in Oregon) and names like Los Angeles and Las Vegas that include a Spanish definite article. Among the world’s countries as they are known in English, there are only three with an initial “the”: El Salvador, The Bahamas, and The Gambia (see this list from Britannica).
The article in a name like El Salvador (Spanish for “the savior”), like the articles in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, generally remains capitalized in an English-language context. (If The Hague retains its capital T, that’s almost certainly because the name is translated from the Dutch Den Haag.) As for The Gambia and The Bahamas, the capital T in those two names apparently reflects the usage in the respective constitutions of those two countries (see the Comparative Constitutions Project). And that’s how Britannica styles those names (see the entries for “The Bahamas” and “The Gambia”).
Meanwhile, the entries in Merriam-Webster list “Gambia or the Gambia” and “Bahamas or the Bahamas or The Bahamas”—suggesting not only that usage varies but that a lowercase t may be more common when the article is used with either name. And though an editor applying Chicago style would ordinarily defer to Merriam-Webster (and choose lowercase), you can cite Britannica if your preference is for The Gambia. Just be sure to switch to lowercase when the article belongs to the surrounding text, as in “the Gambia River” or “the Gambian coast.”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. According to several sources, the word “Indigenous” should be capitalized when referring directly to Indigenous peoples. However, I am uncertain as to whether this term should be capitalized when referring to aspects of Indigenous society, such as Indigenous/indigenous artistic and cultural traditions. Thank you.
A. We would capitalize “Indigenous” in both contexts: that of Indigenous people and groups, on the one hand, and Indigenous culture and society, on the other. Lowercase “indigenous” would be reserved for contexts in which the term does not apply to Indigenous people in any sense—for example, indigenous plant and animal species. A parallel distinction arises for the word “black,” which many writers now capitalize in references to ethnicity and culture (a usage that CMOS supports) but not, for example, when it is simply a color.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I cannot find anything in CMOS to corroborate my hunch that a capital should be used in cases like the following: (1) “Please note: It is important to unplug the appliance after using it.” (2) “Hint: You may not need all the letters to solve the puzzle.” (3) In the acknowledgments section of a book, “Jennifer, James, and Joe: Thank you for all your support.” Some might argue that the word following the colon in each of those instances should begin lowercase, as in the second example under paragraph 6.61, but that doesn’t seem right to me. Thanks for your help.
A. We agree with your hunch. When a word, a phrase, or a dependent clause introduces a complete sentence with the help of a colon, that sentence usually gets a capital letter:
Note: Semicolons are not allowed past this point.
and
Please note: Semicolons are not allowed past this point.
This is exactly how speech tags work (and see CMOS 6.65):
She said, “Find your own way.”
or
She said: “Find your own way.”
Some style guides advise capitalizing the first word of any full sentence that follows a colon, but Chicago’s more traditional approach treats a colon between two complete sentences as it would a semicolon:
Semicolon
The party lasted until exactly midnight; that’s when the gas in the generator ran out.
Colon
The end of the party was signaled by an abrupt silence: the generator had run out of gas.
If the lowercase letter after the colon in that last example is too subtle for your purposes, you have our permission to depart from Chicago and apply a capital letter—or maybe try a dash instead.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How does one handle terms such as “Big Ag”?
A. “Big Ag” isn’t yet in any dictionary we’ve checked, but the OED includes a subentry under “big (adj. and adv.)” for terms like “big agriculture, big oil, big tobacco, etc.” That entry refers to entries for “big business” and “big pharma,” the former of which would seem to be the model for the other “big” terms (in its sense of “large commercial organizations, now esp. multinational corporations, collectively”).
Merriam-Webster Unabridged includes an entry for “Big Pharma,” capital B and P, with lowercase “big pharma” listed as a less common variant. And though usage varies—as illustrated by the examples cited in the OED—initial capitals, whose primary feature is their Large Size, work well for these terms. So “Big Ag” looks good to us.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Would it be “the Cherokee Nation” or “the Cherokee nation”?
A. For an answer to this question, we refer you to the indispensable Elements of Indigenous Style, by Gregory Younging (Brush, 2018). Younging’s book is written from a Canadian perspective, but much of its advice related to capitalization applies equally to usage in the United States:
Nation: This term has become widely accepted by Indigenous Peoples to describe separate Indigenous groups as political entities. . . . Nation is usually embedded in the name of a particular Indigenous People, and as such is capitalized—for example, Six Nations of the Grand River, the Métis Nation of Alberta, and Bigstone Cree Nation. (p. 68)
So refer to the Cherokee Nation with a capital N. The entry quoted above goes on to note that lowercase nation would be appropriate in general contexts (as in the plural): “the nations of North America before contact with Europeans” (p. 68). For nation in non-Indigenous contexts, where it is usually lowercase, see this Q&A.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. If a word is not capitalized in the dictionary but is capitalized in the author’s book manuscript, should I capitalize or not? The specific word in question is “cosmos.” Thanks.
A. You might start by asking if the author has any objection to lowercase, preferably before editing has begun. Maybe point out that words and phrases for vast, seemingly limitless spaces—from “cosmos” and “universe” to “nature” and “world”—are generally lowercase, so readers might be puzzled by an initial capital. Even “internet,” once almost always spelled with a capital I, now gets a lowercase i in CMOS and other stylebooks—not a demotion but rather a recognition of its stature as a virtual universe. If the author nonetheless insists, don’t worry. Each book is a world unto itself, and in the end a consistent approach is what matters most.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. CMOS 8.61 says that words derived from proper nouns like “champagne” are often lowercased when used with a nonliteral meaning. What does “nonliteral” mean when it comes to sparkling wine?
A. The word “champagne” with a lowercase c refers to sparkling wine of any kind, a generic use that is widely accepted; “Champagne” with a capital C, on the other hand, is a proper noun. It literally refers to a specific region in France known for its sparkling wine—or, thanks to industry advocacy, to sparkling wine from that region.
Lowercase “champagne” might be appropriate in a novel or a story—or any casual prose—when the origin of the sparkling wine is unknown or unimportant. If, however, you are writing something like a research paper or a press release, you will want to maintain a clear distinction: write “Champagne” with a capital C to refer to a sparkling wine that it is literally a product of Champagne but “sparkling wine” when it is not (or not necessarily).
The word “Champagne” is closely guarded, but the strictures apply mainly to how the industry labels and markets its products. “Scotch whisky” is similarly protected, and in industry usage, it gets a capital W to go with its capital S. Other such terms tend to be looser—or more general. One example is “swiss cheese”—in which the lowercase s suggests the stuff with the holes, not cheese that’s literally from Switzerland (which might be any number of cheeses, with or without holes).
Think of Chicago style as giving you the option of choosing lowercase for generic, nonliteral mentions. This in itself can be a mark of distinction—not of exclusivity, but of widespread acceptance. And in the case of champagne, it’s a way to keep your options open.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]