An Attempt to Clear the Fog of Title Capitalization
Style guides disagree on which words to capitalize in a title.
Here is one that is a variation of the Chicago Manual of Style rules:
- Always capitalize the first and the last word.
- Capitalize all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions (“as”, “because”, “although”).
- Lowercase all articles, coordinate conjunctions (“and”, “or”, “nor”), and prepositions (under five characters).
- Lowercase the “to” in an infinitive.
The U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual offers one easy style:
“Capitalize all words in titles of publications and documents, except a, an, the, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, up, and, as, but, it, or, and nor.”
[from Writers.com]
Here are some sites for further exploration:
Writer’s Block
eHow
AdminSecret (cheat sheet)
Writers.com
Set the table
under the table means secretly
The payment was made under the table.
above board means open, honest, legal
The transaction was completely above board.
These words appear to come from passing money below a table (secretly) or above a table (openly).
Need a bulb tester?
not the brightest bulb in the box means someone is less intelligent
Here are a few of the more than 100 I found:
elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top floor
the lights are on but nobody is home
not the sharpest knife in the drawer
a few cards short of a full deck
Catch and release
to be let off the hook means to be relieved of an obligation
Without any evidence, the police had to let the suspect off the hook
It likely comes from having a fish on a hook and releasing it.
Cufflinks
off-the-cuff remark means without prior preparation
He made a few off-the-cuff remarks when he received the award.
It refers to speaking from notes written in haste on one’s shirt cuffs.
Out of control
out of hand has at least two meanings:
out of hand means without thought or consideration
He dismissed the suggestion out of hand.
out of hand means not under control
The crowd was getting out of control.
What a change!
whole new ball game means a drastic turn of events
Fishing in the Gulf after the oil spill is a whole new ball game.
This phrase is a reference to when the trailing team takes the lead.
[This post completes my review of idioms related to baseball.]
Are we on the same page?
touch base means to make sure everyone has the same information
He just wanted to touch base before he left for vacation.
This phrase is a reference to touching the bases as a runner heads toward home plate. It could be considered briefly “checking in” at each base.
Your turn
step up to the plate means to assume a responsibility
It’s time for you to step up to the plate and help solve this problem.
This phrase is a reference to stepping up to home plate to bat.
So crazy
screwball means eccentric or crazy
He had another screwball idea we thought would never work.
This phrase is a reference to the a rarely used pitch that is intended to behave erratically.