For every capital there is a season.

Question

As I was doing some translation this morning, I found myself faced with the question of capitalising the names of seasons. Having one of those "this illness has stopped me from remembering useful thingamebobs" days... I have a vague recollection of growing up with the doctrine that Spring, Summer, Autumn (,) and Winter are proper nouns and worthy of capitalisation - at least when we are referring to specific instances thereof. Hence, according to this approach, although "a summertime activity" would be fine, "in Summer 1969" would have been necessary. When I followed this approach, it looked very strange, so I grabbed every style guide, dictionary, etc. on the shelf and checked. Then I asked rewboss by sms. All these sources, along with my eye, agree: the very idea of capitalising season names is a load of old tosh.
Does anyone else here have recollection of being brainwashed with such treasonable dogma?

Redwine
Hamburg
(previously: Berlin, Northants, Derbs, Staffs, NSW, Tasmania, Melbourne, rural Victoria, in that and many other orders)

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Does anyone else here have recollection of being brainwashed with such treasonable dogma?[/nq]
I'm pretty sure the seasons, months and days of the week are supposed to be capitalized.

This here is my post. Is it not nifty? Worship the post.

Usenet · Answer

René wrote on 10 Jun 2004:
[nq:2]Does anyone else here have recollection of being brainwashed with such treasonable dogma?[/nq]
[nq:1]I'm pretty sure the seasons, months and days of the week aresupposed to be capitalized.[/nq]
Not usually for the seasons, but it happens often enough to cause confusion.
Here are two entries from W3NID:
summer
Main Entry:1summer
Inflected Form:-s
Usage:often attributive
Etymology:Middle English sumer, somer, from Old English sumor; akin to Old Saxon, Old High German, & Old Norse sumar summer, Old Irish sam, Welsh haf, Avestan ham- summer, Sanskrit sam* year, half year, season
1 a : the season between spring and autumn reckoned astronomically asextending from the June solstice to the September equinox b : the season comprising the months of June, July, and August c Britain : the season comprising the part of the year extending from mid-May to Mid-August d : a period of warm weather or sunshine regions of everlasting summer* *we have had no summer yet e : the warmer half of the year contrasted with winter f : the dry season in the tropics g : the season reckoned astronomically in the southern hemisphere as extending from the December solstice to the March equinox

2 a : one of the years of one's life especially when young orvigorous a girl of seventeen summers* b : early middle age : the period of maturing powers *still in the summer of one's life
3 : a character or condition suggestive of summer (as in warmth,brightness, or lushness
Indian summer
Main Entry:indian summer
Function:noun
Usage:usually capitalized I
1 : a period of warm or mild weather late in autumn or in earlywinter usually characterized by a clear or cloudless sky and by a hazy or smoky appearance of the atmosphere especially near the horizon

2 : a period of tranquillity or happiness or prosperity or othergenerally favorable conditions occurring for the first time or more usually anew toward the latter part or end of something *if the nineteen-twenties constituted a sort of Indian summer of the old order F.L.Allen* life in the Indian summer of Czarist Russia John Davenport* *an Indian summer of wartime literature Blackwood's* *the Indian summer of her widowhood Dixon Wecter

Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor.
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]As I was doing some translation this morning, I found myself faced with the question of capitalising the names of ... names is a load of old tosh. Does anyone else here have recollection of being brainwashed with such treasonable dogma?[/nq]
Nope just the days of the week and the months. (Consistency would presumably demand that if one capitalised "the Summer of 1969" was capitalised, so too would be "the Week of June 14th" which looks even weirder.)
Seasons would have been capitalised in literary personification references "O, Spring! Bring forth fruitful Bounteousness" and formal 19th-century practice may capitalised the season names; but I think both styles passed into history many years ago.

Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 21 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey to whhvs)

Usenet · Answer

~~snip~~
[nq:1](Consistency would presumably demand that if one capitalised "the Summer of 1969" was capitalised, so too would be "the Week of June 14th" which looks even weirder.)[/nq]
What **** editing and typos. Sorry.
Please read that as: "Consistency would presumably demand that if one capitalised "the Summer of 1969", one would also write "the Week of June 14th"..."

Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 21 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey to whhvs)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]On 10 Jun 2004, Harvey Van Sickle wrote ~~snip~~[/nq]
[nq:2](Consistency would presumably demand that if one capitalised "the Summer ... "the Week of June 14th" which looks even weirder.)[/nq]
[nq:1]What **** editing and typos. Sorry. Please read that as: "Consistency would presumably demand that if one capitalised "the Summer of 1969", one would also write "the Week of June 14th"..."[/nq]
Oh, I did, don't worry.

Redwine
Hamburg
(previously: Berlin, Northants, Derbs, Staffs, NSW, Tasmania, Melbourne, rural Victoria, in that and many other orders)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]René wrote on 10 Jun 2004:[/nq]
Thanks! The above made me do a double-take, but checking W3NID I see it was simply a typo. Just an ironic one to come in when you are helping me on a capitalisation question.

Redwine
Hamburg
(previously: Berlin, Northants, Derbs, Staffs, NSW, Tasmania, Melbourne, rural Victoria, in that and many other orders)

Usenet · Answer

Professor Redwine wrote on 10 Jun 2004:

I didn't even see that typo until I read your post. I'm not too sharp these days. I think the pain in my foot is drawing energy from my cerebral capacities. I still need another two weeks or so to mend the skin wounds. The internal pain will probably take another 6-8 weeks to go away.
I read in one of Bill Walsh's style books that the seasons are not capitalized unless part of a proper name, as in "Our town's annual Coproville Summer Festival will take place on June 31st this year".

Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor.
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Does anyone else here have recollection of being brainwashed with such treasonable dogma?[/nq]
[nq:1]I'm pretty sure the seasons, months and days of the week are supposed to be capitalized.[/nq]
My English teachers always told us that seasons were written with small letters.
Adrian

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Professor Redwine wrote on 10 Jun 2004:[/nq]
[nq:1]I didn't even see that typo until I read your post. I'm not too sharp these days. I think the ... of a proper name, as in "Our town's annual Coproville Summer Festival will take place on June 31st this year".[/nq]
I like their town motto: "There's no flies on us."

Adrian

Usenet · Answer

Adrian Bailey wrote on 10 Jun 2004:
[nq:2]I read in one of Bill Walsh's style books that ... Summer Festival will take place on June 31st this year".[/nq]
[nq:1]I like their town motto: "There's no flies on us."[/nq]
Sung by the Grateful Dead, no?

Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor.
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet.

For every capital there is a season.

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