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Tue 8 Jul, 2008 03:16 pm
I'm editing a book and have got to the stage where no matter what I do, it looks wrong.
The following people are referred to throughout the book, the king, mayor, stationmaster, corporal, captain, private etc etc. Should they be King, Mayor etc.
If someone says "Please, captain, can I ask you something?" should it be "Please, Captain etc."?
Also, when a character calls people "Old Boy" and another calls everyone "Luv" should it be "old boy" and "luv"?
I'd be so grateful for help. Perhaps there's no definite answer and the important thing is continuity. What do you think?
I think all the titles and names should be capitalized. Someone is welcome to correct me if I am wrong.
Edit: changed my mind about the "old boy" & "luv". I don't think they should be capitalized.
Please, Captain - because it's used in place of his or her name. If you speak of him as "The captain said. . . ", no caps because it's use as a title instead of a name.
I notice your location is UK. The same rules may, or may not apply.
Roger's right. I just have one clarification: "The captain said..." but "Captain Jones said...".
Capitalize when you're substituting the title for a name OR when you are referring to a specific person (Captain Jones, King Henry VIII). If it's just any caption or king, no caps are needed.
"Old boy" and "luv" are pet names and shouldn't be capitalized unless the person uses the word as a common name (I know a teenage girl everyone calls "Lovey". I'd capitalize Lovey's name as I would anyone else's.)
Thanks all, makes sense. There's so many hundreds of pages to wade through, I didn't want to have to do it twice!
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