The Capitalization Of "Sailor"
Geoff Miller
When did it become fashionable to capitalize "sailor,"
and why?
I noticed this upon re-joining the United States Naval
Institute in 2009, after a lapse of some years. (I
originally joined in 1968, when I was twelve, courtesy
of my father).
I immediately noticed that in all the articles and
columns in _Proceedings_, as well as in its sister
publication _Naval History_, the word "sailor" was
pointedly and deliberately capitalized wherever it
appeared.
Is this an offshoot of the self-esteem movement that's
captivated education circles in the civilian world in
recent decades? Is it in compensation for the fact
that "Marine" was traditionally capitalized, but
"sailor" wasn't?
What, as they say, is up with that?
Geoff Miller
United States Coast Guard
1978-1983
--
"Do you ever get the idea that our government
is a bunch of left-wing undergraduates come to
power?" -- Jay Nordlinger in National Review
vaughn
"Geoff Miller" <geo...@lava.net> wrote in message
news:HP2dnbmt6YkgoqjR...@posted.lavanet...
>
>
> When did it become fashionable to capitalize "sailor,"
> and why?
AFAIK, never.
> I immediately noticed that in all the articles and
> columns in _Proceedings_, as well as in its sister
> publication _Naval History_, the word "sailor" was
> pointedly and deliberately capitalized wherever it
> appeared.
>
Journalism organizations usually have their own internal rules of "style". I
can imagine someone getting up in a meeting and pitching that change. It being
almost lunchtime, everyone else just agreed to hasten meeting's end. Once it
makes it in the style "rules", the changes apply to all of that organization's
publications.
Vaughn
Chris
> When did it become fashionable to capitalize "sailor,"
> and why?
As a contractor for the US Army, I will tell you that in 2007 or so an
email was sent out to the entire US Army, over President Bush's name
and signature, telling everyone to capitalize "Soldier" from then on,
to recognize the heroism and achievements of our fighting men and
women. And so, ever since then, just about every official and semi-
official document you will find from the US Army will say 'Soldier',
no matter how it makes my eyes roll when I see it.
My guess is the Navy got a similar email at about the same time.
Chris Manteuffel
scott s.
news:HP2dnbmt6YkgoqjR...@posted.lavanet:
>
>
> When did it become fashionable to capitalize "sailor,"
> and why?
>
> I noticed this upon re-joining the United States Naval
> Institute in 2009, after a lapse of some years. (I
> originally joined in 1968, when I was twelve, courtesy
> of my father).
>
> I immediately noticed that in all the articles and
> columns in _Proceedings_, as well as in its sister
> publication _Naval History_, the word "sailor" was
> pointedly and deliberately capitalized wherever it
> appeared.
>
> Is this an offshoot of the self-esteem movement that's
> captivated education circles in the civilian world in
> recent decades? Is it in compensation for the fact
> that "Marine" was traditionally capitalized, but
> "sailor" wasn't?
>
> What, as they say, is up with that?
You are correct. But then, why is "Marine" captialized.
scott s.
.
Geoff Miller
scott s. <75270...@csi.xcom> writes:
> You are correct. But then, why is "Marine" captialized.
I suspect it's because "Marine" is part of that service's
full and official name. I see "Coastie" capitalized more
often than not, probably for the same reason.
Geoff
cpobi...@gmail.com
In May 1994, SevNav Dalton declared that from then on, sailor would be spelled Sailor. Some years later, in 2003, the Chiefs of Staff of the Army and Air Force did the same for Soldier and Airman. Marine has always been capitalized, probably out of Tradition, but that's just speculation on my part.
Fred J. McCall
>
>Since I don't see an answer here, allow a retired Chief to elaborate.
>
>In May 1994, SevNav Dalton declared that from then on, sailor would be spelled Sailor. Some years later, in 2003, the Chiefs of Staff of the Army and Air Force did the same for Soldier and Airman. Marine has always been capitalized, probably out of Tradition, but that's just speculation on my part.
>
considered not screwing with stupid shit and paying attention to
things like readiness and acquisitions?
--
"Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute."
-- Charles Pinckney
joseph....@gmail.com
> scott s. <75270...@csi.xcom> writes:
>
> > You are correct. But then, why is "Marine" captialized.
>
>
> I suspect it's because "Marine" is part of that service's
> full and official name. I see "Coastie" capitalized more
> often than not, probably for the same reason.
>
>
>
> Geoff
In older times "marine" was used in English to refer to all a nation's maritime assets, which is why we had the Merchant Marine, the Revenue Marine and the Marine Hospital Service. The Continental Congress had a Marine Committee which started the navy and privateers and US Marshalls. That usage no longer is used in the US (it still is in Mexico) but you still sometimes see "marines" for naval paintings and we still have marine engineers and marine biologists. But when someone in the US sees the word "marine" alone now they think of the USMC.
Britain had other coast guards in the past like the Count of the Saxon Shore, the hobiliers and the Sea Fencibles so the it took time for the generic term "coast guards" to become exclusive to the Coast Guard.
Joe
a425couple
>>Since I don't see an answer here, allow a retired Chief to elaborate.
>>In May 1994, SevNav Dalton declared that from then on, sailor would
--Army and Air Force did the same for Soldier and Airman. Marine has
--always been capitalized, probably out of Tradition, but that's just
--speculation on my part.
> And this is what they're spending their time and effort on. Have they
> considered not screwing with stupid shit and paying attention to
> things like readiness and acquisitions?
Or, at least until the last month, no, they had not considered
important things. Takes a lot of effort to line up paperclips!
Who knows what will happen. Probably not same-old, same-old!
Meanwhile Fred, you probably saw this one, but
I think the emphasis
"These are the people that are supposed to be informing us!!"
is interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1HguZOOVnk
Remember When "President Trump" Was Just A Hilarious Idea?
[Sad Video]the Jimmy Dore Show
Jonathan
that all internal Army correspondence should capitalize the
word "Soldier". Army Regulation 25-50 says that the words
Family and Civilian should also be capitalized.
Army Regulation 25–50
Information Management
Preparing and
Managing
Correspondence
http://www.hamilton.army.mil/Portals/0/DHR/Admin/AR%2025-50%20PREPARING%20AND%20MANAGING%20CORRESPONDENCE%20(3).pdf
If you're referring to a specific Soldier, Sailor or Marine
it should be capitalized as it's a proper noun.
If talking about sailors in general than don't.
For instance President Obama should be caps, but
'the president' should not since there are many
presidents out there.
If they're russian or iranian, then don't~
Thesis Capitalization Rules
In general, we follow the Chicago Manual of Style and
the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and
Associated Terms as capitalization guidelines.
An exception: based on strong tradition among U.S.
military personnel, Thesis Processing turns a blind eye
to capitalizing Sailor, Soldier, Marine, etc.,
when the terms are used in regard to the U.S. military.
Lower casing these terms is preferred; be consistent.
For foreign militaries, do not capitalize.
https://my.nps.edu/documents/105790666/106471207/Thesis_Capitalization_Rules.pdf/e0fde9d4-8c83-41d5-8c1c-e1e125f01a02