lower case 'g' for 'god' ?

[Trevoke]

I don't know how all the situations are taken care of.
I know that it's an upper-case for the Christian God.
What about several gods? what about no god? What about... ?
When is it upper case and when is it lower case?

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[CajunCenturion]

It should be capitalized when it's a proper noun, and lower case when it's a common noun.

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[Sinlaeshel]

You pray to God.

You pray to a god.

 

[Trevoke]

So -- you don't believe in God, you don't believe in a god.
You pray to the gods, though?
Or pray to the Gods?

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[CajunCenturion]

==> You pray to the gods, though? Or pray to the Gods?
Either could be correct. If 'the gods' refers to a specific set of gods, then as a proper noun it should be capitalized. If, on the other hand, 'the gods' is used in a generic sense, not referring to any specific god or gods, then it should remain lowercase.

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[Sinlaeshel]

Is this a special case specific to the word 'god'? Being at work, my mind is correlating this example to the word 'boss'. As I only have one boss, would saying 'I need to get this done for my Boss' be appropriate? It doesn't seem like it would be... which piston is misfiring in my head?

 

[CajunCenturion]

==> Is this a special case specific to the word 'god'?
No, it's not a special case with 'god' per se, nor does it have anything to do with religion. The situation is with nouns that can be either proper or common, depending on usage. Since 'god' as a noun can be either proper or common, then its capitalization is based on that usage. 'Boss' on the other hand, assuming it's not actually his or her name, would never be a proper noun, so it wouldn't be capitalized.

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[Trevoke]

Sinlaeshel : I think the misfiring piston is because of titles (one system administrator? I am a Systems Administrator).

So if you call him "Boss", you may be referring to his (albeit unofficial) title of "Boss" .. Right?

Thanks for clearing it up for me

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[CajunCenturion]

==> I am a Systems Administrator
It is extremely rare that a proper noun would follow an indefinite article (a or an). It's far more likely for a proper noun to follow the definite article (the). You are a systems administrator (the common general case). You are the Systems Administrator (the proper specific case).

You do bring up a valid point at titles, and when referring to one by their title, then it would be a proper noun and therefore capitalized. I still would not capitalize boss unless that were the official title.

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[Sinlaeshel]

'the Gods' refers to a specific set of gods, so the capitalization is proper. 'my Boss' refers to a specific person, so, what's wrong with capitalizing the B?

Intuition in my mind realizes that 'my boss' just -seems- proper, but, the more I think about it, the more I can't shake the feeling that the capitalization isn't totally inappropriate.

 

[CajunCenturion]

I think you can make a case for capitalizaing 'boss', but for the most part, I'm in the vein of thinking that 'boss' is being used as a pronoun, and you don't capitalize pronouns.

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[CRilliterate]

So I should sign (if I was)

Sincerelly,
Director of IT Department

But I would say 'I respect my director's opinion'

But "Director" is boses description...so I think "OK, Boss!"

 

[manarth]

<pedant>
Actually, you should probably sign it 'Sincerely'...
</pedant>

---
Marcus
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[Trevoke]

if I were, I also would sign "Sincerely" .. ;-)

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[CRilliterate]

Trevoke, if I knew how to spell I would be the one lol

 

[CajunCenturion]

==>Sincerelly,
Director of IT Department
I spell sincerely a bit differently , but "Director of IT Department" should all be capitalized because that is your title.

==> But I would say 'I respect my director's opinion'
If by 'my director', you are referring to the "Director of IT Department", then 'director' is the official title, or a shortened form of, and should be capitalized.

==> But "Director" is boses description...
If 'director' is boss's description, then director should be lowercase. If 'Director' is boss's title, then it should be capitalized.

==> ...so I think "OK, Boss!"
If 'boss' is your boss's title, then it should be capitalized, otherwise, boss should remain lowercase.

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[sleipnir214]

I agree with all of CC's above post. Except for "Boss".

I the context of the utterance so I think, "OK, Boss!", it seems to me that "Boss" can be a nick-name or honorific. As such, it can be proper nown like "Doc", "Top" (for an Army First Sergeant), "Gunney" (for a Marine Corp Gunnery Sergeant) or "Sarge" (usually for an Army buck sergeant).

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[2ffat]

The same could be said for father vs. Father, mother vs. Mother, etc.

James P. Cottingham
-----------------------------------------
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I'm number 1,229![/sup]

 

[sleipnir214]

I agree. But F/father,m/mother ties into what CC has been saying about proper versus common nouns.

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[SantaMufasa]

To clarify the F/father,m/mother issue, this is the appropriate capitalisation:

I told my mom, "Thanks, Mom, for being the best mom ever."

I shall, however, respectfully present some common exceptions to Cajun's assertion,

It is extremely rare that a proper noun would follow an indefinite article (a or an).

Examples of an entire class of exceptions:

I bought a Big Mac and fries.
I gave my son a Game Boy for Christmas.

Mufasa
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