Q. Do you capitalize both words in “happy birthday”?
A. Not always. To describe the act of wishing someone a happy birthday, neither term is capitalized. To name the traditional song, both words are capitalized: “Happy Birthday to You,” or “Happy Birthday.” In dialogue (as in a published novel or story), the first term would normally be capitalized at the beginning of a sentence: “Happy birthday, Rhoda!” But in a personal greeting, you can style it however you wish: Happy Birthday! 🎈🎈🎈 (birthday-themed emoji optional).
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I have a question regarding an episode my fiction author mentions quite a few times in her story. She’s currently italicizing it: the incident. I think caps would be better: the Incident (“the” not capped). Or would “the” be capped in this case?
A. Italics would work well for the occasional emphasis: “Did you hear about the incident?” But to immortalize an event—especially if the desired effect is irony (or tragicomedy)—we agree that capitalization would be the better choice. As for the initial article, Chicago would normally recommend lowercase “the” for events that occur in real life—for example, the Great Fire of London (see CMOS 8.75)—but the point of a single capital I for a solitary common noun that wouldn’t normally be capitalized risks being lost on readers. To take full advantage of the opportunity for humor (or pathos), you would be justified in making a reasonable departure from Chicago style and referring to The Incident.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Permission forms sometimes use ALL CAPS for authors, titles, or copyright holders—for example, “All Rights Controlled and Administered by [MUSIC PUBLISHER].” Must a credit line copy that style? Changing to italic title capitalization seems acceptable where all caps were used in place of italics in a title, but what about names?
A. There is no meaningful difference between “MUSIC PUBLISHER” and “Music Publisher” in a published credit line, so no, you are not obligated to apply all caps to a name that does not ordinarily require such treatment. Nor are you obligated to use headline-style capitalization for the rest of the statement, which is technically a sentence. So, to follow Chicago, you would style your example as follows: “All rights controlled and administered by Music Publisher.” But be sure to retain all caps for names (or elements thereof) that are always so styled: “EMI Blackwood Music Inc.” If you are unsure of the correct capitalization for a given entity, follow the style in the rightsholder’s permission form, all caps or not.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am writing a report for a corporate client describing his construction project. When not using the formal name of the project, he insists that I refer to it as “the Project,” where the word “Project” is capitalized. That does not bother me. But when an adjective precedes the word “project,” it strikes me as odd to maintain the capitalization. For example, “this redevelopment Project.” Does Chicago have a recommendation about capitalization in these two instances?
A. Presumably “the Project” has been defined at first use—for example,
The project for redevelopment of the brownfield area at the intersection of Street St. and N. Avenue (“the Project”), which consists of . . .
After that, to refer to the “redevelopment Project” would be redundant. So the best course is simply to replace “this redevelopment Project” with “the Project.” Any additional details can be added after the term (or incorporated into the original definition of the term). (It should perhaps be noted that, outside of certain legal or corporate contexts, Chicago style would normally call for lowercase “project.”)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. In the sentence “Cane Ridge post office in Van Buren County, Tennessee, was opened in March 1866,” the town name is Cane Ridge and it has a post office. Would you capitalize “Post Office” or leave it lowercase?
A. In your sentence the phrase “Cane Ridge Post Office” looks like a title that should be capped, like Cane Ridge High School. If you had written “The Cane Ridge post office,” then “post office” might be read as a generic and lowercased in the way that you would lowercase “the Cane Ridge gas station” or “the Cane Ridge bus stop.”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hi, Chicago! My team has a question about kinship names. We understand words like Mom, Dad, and Grandma get capped when standing in place of a name, but we often see son and sis lowercased, even in direct address (e.g., “Well, son, let me explain” and “What’s the matter, sis?”). Is it because those are more terms of endearment than actual stand-ins for the name? Or should Son and Sis be capitalized too?
A. You’re right that Mom, Dad, and Grandma are used by children who wouldn’t address their elders by first name, whereas terms like son and sis are more often meant as generics rather than to replace a name, and that makes lowercasing them appropriate. In gray areas writers may use their discretion.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I have always thought that the only time one uses capitalization after a semicolon is when it is followed by a proper noun (or a word like I). As a mathematics editor, I’ve encountered capitalization after a semicolon with two different publishers (“No; Possible answer: they can find . . .”). I’ve searched for an answer in CMS but no luck.
A. CMOS probably doesn’t cover this because it’s never come up before! Uppercasing after a semicolon in running text (other than a proper name) is likely to look like an error.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How does Chicago style handle capitalization of add-on questions such as the following? “May I have a cookie? two cookies? four cookies?” Should the latter two questions start with a lowercase letter?
A. CMOS doesn’t cover this issue per se, but it incidentally shows an example at 5.229: “Which is better? And why?” In that case CMOS chose capital letters, perhaps because the add-on question can be seen as beginning a new sentence. You could view “Two cookies?” as an elision of “May I have two cookies?” and therefore as the beginning of a new sentence, or you could choose to view your add-ons as sentence-ending fragments, so that lowercasing is justifiable.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Regarding the update to 6.42 about capitalizing a direct question midsentence: Does it apply to a sentence like this? “With all of X’s resources, why [lowercase w] had her cell phone not been fixed?” This type of sentence seems different to me than the examples given in 6.42, but I can’t explain why. Does the new rule apply? Should it be “With all of X’s resources, Why [uppercase W] had her cell phone not been fixed”?
A. Your sentence is different from those at 6.42 because it’s not a direct question included within a sentence. Rather, your entire sentence is a direct question. If your sentence/question were part of another sentence, then the first word would be capped. “She wondered, With all of X’s resources, why had her cell phone still not been fixed?” (Note that the first word of your direct question is With.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. What does it mean when the name of a person is presented in all caps?
A. On an office door, nothing. On a birthday cake, probably nothing. In a sentence like “NAME IN ALL CAPS is very important and powerful,” it could mean that the person is very important and powerful, or it might only mean that they wish they were.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]