Timeline for Achilles' heel or achilles heel? - Is it proper to lowercase the usage
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
4 events
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| Oct 11, 2012 at 23:20 | comment | added | Marthaª | @tchrist, the difference is that I'm not sure if I've heard of the "Kuiper belt", and I'm quite certain I've never encountered a "Golgi apparatus", whatever the heck that is; whereas Achilles' heel is a pretty common phrase. The closest parallel I can think of is Krebs cycle, but that seems to be called the citric acid cycle nowadays, probably because people want to give credit where it's due to Szent-Györgyi's contributions, but nobody can pronounce Szent-Györgyi (just ask my sister). | |
| Oct 11, 2012 at 23:08 | comment | added | Jon Purdy | @tchrist: I have no problem generalising. The capital will depart anyway when the legend is forgotten. | |
| Oct 11, 2012 at 21:58 | comment | added | tchrist♦ | Yes, or nemetic < Nemesis, but all of those are adjectives derived from nouns, while Achilles tendon uses Achilles attributively, so it is still a noun. In similar constructs, the capital seems to stick around. For example, the Golgi apparatus is not yet ∗golgi, either, nor the Kuiper belt yet ∗kuiper. Perhaps someday. | |
| Oct 11, 2012 at 20:25 | history | answered | Jon Purdy | CC BY-SA 3.0 |