Diamond
Enthusiast
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While I find nothing wrong with your question and your sources mozart, the issue is far from as clear cut as it seems: While military officials may be able to order public affairs personnel to change their releases, they do not have any command over the English language, according to those who would allow the change of “soldier” to “Soldier” in the dictionary.
“I don’t see how he could do that,” said Jim Lowe, an editor at Merriam-Webster in Springfield, Mass. “The word (soldier) is already established in the language. It’s a generic word.
“He can capitalize it if he wants to give it emphasis and make it stand out in text. As far as the dictionary is concerned, it’s still a generic word. I don’t think one person’s use of it will change anything in the dictionary.”
The above is from this site.I am wondering why we would consider capitalising the word "soldier" in particular. I appreciate that "marine" is sometimes given this treatment. But what about the firefighters, paramedics, police officers? The list goes on. |
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| Posts: 2824 | Location: Ontario, Canada | Registered: 10-27-06 |  |
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