tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27606211.post115024716150986257..comments2023-06-04T11:38:40.921-04:00Comments on words / myth / ampers & virgule: Head caseDick Margulishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10169512038331158003noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27606211.post-1174037672544417872007-03-16T06:34:00.000-04:002007-03-16T06:34:00.000-04:00Ed,All style choices are arbitrary. This isn't a q...Ed,<BR/><BR/>All style choices are arbitrary. This isn't a question of right and wrong, just a question of consistency. I find it odd that a word in a New York Times headline is capped or not based on its position in the line where it is printed (rather than its position in the article title). So if I write about an article and want to faithfully report its title, I have to know how the title was broken in the original paper. What if that changed between the early edition and a later edition to accommodate the addition of a new article to the page? See the problem?Dick Margulishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10169512038331158003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27606211.post-1174015597464774332007-03-16T00:26:00.000-04:002007-03-16T00:26:00.000-04:00CMS, by my understanding, is the current version o...CMS, by my understanding, is the current version of what began as a Momeographed sheet providing guidance to copyeditors of the U of C Press. I'm guessing that's still its primary function. Implicitly, it concedes that publications have their own styles. The call to use initial caps (in heds) for prepositions of whatver length surely recognizes that many styles have, for decades, used prepositiions' length as the criterion for capitalizing.<BR/><BR/>Unless the copyeditor is on the publication staff (when he must, of course, follow its style), it seems to me he can follow almost any reasonable style he likes. I've felt a copyeditor is hired to be consistent and reasonable, then to use his own judgement. Informed judgement, ceertainly, but judgement. Disagree? ---ed nelsonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com