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The coming fall elections promise a lot of intrigue. We will read in The New York Times all about the âTea Party,â while the Associated Press will deliver a lot of news about the âtea party.â
The intrigue wonât involve politics, but capitalization.
In March, the AP added âtea partyâ to its stylebook, defining it thus: âPopulist movement opposing Washington political establishment.â âTea Partyâ isnât in the Times stylebook, but thereâs a topics page saying that the âTea Party Movement is a diffuse American grass-roots group that taps into antigovernment sentiments.â And teapartynation.com capitalizes Tea Party, too.
On the âAsk the Editorâ blog (available with a subscription to the online stylebook), AP Stylebook editors give their reasoning: âLowercase as a movement because tea party is not at this point a formal organization, entity or event–historical, such as Boston Tea Party, or otherwise. In states where it has been established as an official party, itâs uppercase, as in Nevada Tea Party and Tea Party Express.â
On the other hand, AP style dubs the current economic doldrums the âGreat Recession,â while many others call it merely the âgreat recession.â APâs Ask the Editor again: âAP accepted the term because it is widely used in government and financial circles to describe the financial meltdown and economic downturn, which seems to have been arrested short of a depression.â
Does that mean AP is in favor of the recession but against the tea party movement? Hardly. Whether to capitalize or not is often a matter not of ârightâ or âwrong,â but of style, or in the case of some languages, of convention. Itâs no more âwrongâ to call the site of the World Trade Center âground zeroâ (most stylebooksâ choice) than it is to call it âGround Zeroâ (the choice of many politicians and people).
But capitalization conveys to many people a seriousness, a formality that gives the capitalized word gravitas. Capital letters jump off a pageâa fact not ignored by entities that urge that their capitalization be followed for names or acronyms: Which word stands out more: Unicef or UNICEF? Capitalization calls attention to itself, and many publications try to minimize that.
But keeping that style consistent is a bitch, (not to mention getting everyone who works for a publication to follow it). AP recently switched to âwebsiteâ instead of âWeb site,â but still capitalizes âWeb.â The brand-new Sixteenth Edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, which CJR follows, switched to âwebsite,â too, but now lowercases âweb,â staying consistent. CMOS, though, capitalizes âMaine coon catâ and âGerman short-haired pointer,â but lowercases âswiss cheeseâ and âarabic numerals,â a seeming inconsistency of its own. (AP and most dictionaries capitalize âSwiss cheeseâ and âArabic numerals.â) No offense is intended: Itâs a style decision, not a nationalistic one, and each publication has its internal logic to follow, though it might appear inconsistent at first glance.
Time for a Scotch (AP). Or a scotch. (CMOS). At least nearly everyone lets you call it âwhiskyâ now, instead of âwhiskey.â
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