Timeline for Why is quixotic not Quixotic (a proper adjective)?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
12 events
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| Feb 22, 2019 at 14:56 | history | edited | DJClayworth | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 22, 2019 at 14:54 | comment | added | Pete Kirkham | @MichaelHarvey Blake's use of capitalisation does not necessarily reflect convention at the time, e.g. in London he capitalises 'Man', 'Infant', 'Church', 'Soldiers', 'Palace', 'Chimney-sweepers', 'Harlots' and 'Marriage', probably for emphasis, or maybe to indicate the ideal rather than an individual. | |
| Feb 21, 2019 at 16:40 | comment | added | mbrig | @Juhasz I suspect that this is the best explanation for the trend, but given that its human language and not, perhaps, (classical) physics, the trend is weak and full of confounding factors and sub-trends | |
| Feb 21, 2019 at 10:04 | comment | added | Spudley | @MichaelHarvey - to be fair, I wouldn't use The Guardian as a definitive reference for grammar or spelling. They've had a reputation over the years for some spectacular howlers. | |
| Feb 20, 2019 at 21:51 | history | edited | DJClayworth | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 20, 2019 at 21:49 | comment | added | DJClayworth | I completely agree with the answer to the question Davo linked to, which says essentially the same as mine here. 'balkanization' (meaning fragmentation) is no longer associated with the Balkans, although Americanization definitely refers to America. | |
| Feb 20, 2019 at 21:31 | comment | added | Juhasz | This is a nice idea, but I doubt it's correct. Take a look at the question Davo linked to in a comment on the question. There are a good number of proper adjectives that are commonly not capitalized and it's not clear to me that Faustian has any more connection to Faust than herculean has to Hercules, or that balkanization is less associated with the Balkans than Americanization is with America. | |
| Feb 20, 2019 at 20:11 | comment | added | Hot Licks | A minor point is that "quixotic" is not given a Spanish pronunciation. | |
| Feb 20, 2019 at 18:39 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | William Blake wrote 'dark Satanic mills' in 'Jerusalem', in 1804, but by 2012 the word 'satanic' was sufficiently disconnected from the evil one for the Guardian to lowercase it when discussing the poem. | |
| Feb 20, 2019 at 18:34 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | +1 for confirming that I’m not the only one who had no idea draconian was related to a person – I just thought it was a direct reference to ‘dragon-like’! | |
| Feb 20, 2019 at 18:28 | comment | added | Jesse Williams |
that's an interesting observation, and I would agree, but then what of biblical, which is ostensibly 'associated with the Bible', but still not commonly capitalized. Interestingly, I actually do capitalize Biblical, as rarely as I write the word. I'm fairly certain that I generally capitalize Draconian as well. But Quixotic just sort of felt wrong. It's a fickle thing, English...
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| Feb 20, 2019 at 18:25 | history | answered | DJClayworth | CC BY-SA 4.0 |