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.]
Q. I found nothing in the Manual regarding this, and maybe there is no actual standard on this topic. My English-speaking colleagues capitalize the word following “Dear” in a group letter—for example, “Dear Colleagues,” or “Dear Teachers.” Is the capital necessary? Thank you for your help.
A. You’ll still find “forms of address” in the back of printed editions of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. And though the purpose of that section is to help you address someone like a pope or a judge with a traditionally proper, respectful formula, you can glean an answer to your question there. Words that would otherwise be lowercase—like “sir” and “madam”—are capitalized in an address: “Dear Sir,” “Dear Madam.” For one thing, these words stand in for a person’s name. And capital letters are generally more formal than lowercase, making them a natural choice for something as conventional as the greeting at the head of a letter or email.
The Gregg Reference Manual, which specializes in business documents, confirms this choice. For a letter to more than one person, the tenth edition (published in 2005) advises “Dear Friends (Colleagues, Members, or some other appropriate collective term).” So unless you’re being casual—or writing according to a tradition where lowercase is the norm—prefer capitalization for words like “Colleagues” and “Teachers” in your salutations.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. If the word “god” is capitalized only when it is a proper name, why would you capitalize it in the expression “Oh my god!” unless you know that the speaker is referring to the specific deity worshipped by Christians and other monotheists? Does Chicago style uppercase or lowercase “Oh my god!”?
A. In general, when “god” is used nonliterally (as in your example), or when the reference is to plural “gods” (or to one god among many), lowercase g is the better choice; as your question suggests, a capital G is normally reserved for literal references to the supreme being (or Supreme Being, when referring to a specific God) worshiped according to any of a number of monotheistic religions. But religion is as varied as it is personal; some authors will prefer to capitalize “god” even in apparently nonliteral references. And some may prefer plural “Gods.” Editors should therefore try to confirm an author’s preference before making any wholesale changes. For some additional considerations, see CMOS 8.91.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]