Q. You advise capitalizing the shared generic term in topographical names (“the Illinois and the Chicago Rivers,” CMOS 8.53). Do you advise the same for other things, such as churches (“the Anglican, Armenian, and Catholic Churches”) and parties (“the Democratic and Republican Parties”)?
A. Yes, Chicago’s rule for rivers, mountains, and the like would normally extend to other types of proper nouns—including the names of political divisions (CMOS 8.51), streets (CMOS 8.56), and buildings and monuments (CMOS 8.57). As with those categories, the rule would apply to churches and parties only when each of the formal names (or sometimes a shorter version thereof) incorporates the generic term, capitalized as part of the name—the Anglican Church, the Democratic Party (in the US), and so forth.
As rules go, however, this one is pretty arbitrary. It took three editions of CMOS to settle on a recommendation for the plural forms of topographical divisions. The 14th edition introduced the current recommendation (which had formerly applied only when the generic term preceded the names: Lakes Erie and Huron)—only to have it reversed for the 15th and then (after an in-house poll and input from readers) reinstated for the 16th. As for churches and parties, these weren’t capitalized even for singular entities until the 14th edition (the 13th listed “Republican party”; its Democratic counterpart was absent from the list). So a preference for lowercase wouldn’t be unreasonable—particularly for churches and parties. Just be consistent.
Q. Hi there! Does Chicago style capitalize animal breeds such as “pit bull” and “goldendoodle”? Thanks in advance!
A. For the common names of animals (as opposed to the binomial scientific name, in which the genus is always capitalized: e.g., Canis familiaris, for the domestic dog), you can usually limit capitalization to any proper nouns and adjectives that are part of the name (see CMOS 8.128). But check Merriam-Webster for exceptions, because the names of some breeds may be capitalized.
Merriam-Webster lists “pit bull” but “goldendoodle or Goldendoodle”; in the case of such equal variants (which M-W separates with “or”), Chicago recommends choosing the first-listed one, so you can write “goldendoodle.”
Professional organizations typically capitalize the names of officially recognized breeds—including the goldendoodle (a cross between a golden retriever and a poodle) and, for example, the American pit bull terrier (a specific breed of the pit bull type)—and some writers copy this usage (i.e., American Pit Bull Terrier), but unless it’s the first-listed form in M-W, it’s not Chicago style.
The choice won’t always be so clear. For example, another poodle hybrid, the labradoodle, is listed as “often capitalized” in M-W. The first part of the name is borrowed from the Labrador retriever, which in turn derives its name from the Canadian region that lends its name to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. You could defend a preference for “Labradoodle,” then, on the principle that it’s derived from a proper name.
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).
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.
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.
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.”)
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.”
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.
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.
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.