Can I get a ruling on this?

[jen_nsync_landl]

What is the official ruling on when "slayer" is capitalized and when it is not? I see it rendered both ways, but I can't discern any real hard and fast rules about the circumstances that require one version instead of the other

Comments

[gabrielleabelle]

Hmmmm...I've often wondered the same thing, myself. Personally, I always capitalize it because I see it as a proper title.

*is feeling concise, apparently*

[jen_nsync_landl]

*is feeling concise, apparently*

My God, the apocalypse really is nigh!

*g*

Okay, one vote for Slayer-as-title. I know I've followed the "always capitalize" route myself in the past, but I've drifted away from that during this fall's writing, and now I'm trying to put a finger on why my sudden lack of clarity.

Hmmm, wonder what the comics say about that. Or scripts. The academic in me wants to know what Joss and Co. do with this...

Oh, and I see you've posted a new fic *and* it's all Spuffy-tastic (you are so *eeevol* to use Sarah lyric snippets in your cuts, to lure me in, even when I'm so painfully busy!). As soon as I see my way out of this mad-dash of a Christmas present fic, I'll be reading. :)

[gabrielleabelle]

*g*

Now, an extended question is whether potentials should be capitalized. That one I'm not as certain on. Slayer is a definite title. There's only one (or...traditionally). It's THE Slayer. Plus, it looks weird to me when it's not capitalized. ;)

Potentials, though...I'm not sure if that's an actual title for them or just something people started calling them in S7. I've seen it either way.

Oh, and I see you've posted a new fic *and* it's all Spuffy-tastic (you are so *eeevol* to use Sarah lyric snippets in your cuts, to lure me in, even when I'm so painfully busy!). As soon as I see my way out of this mad-dash of a Christmas present fic, I'll be reading. :)

Hee. Well, if it helps any, it's very short. :)

[jen_nsync_landl]

Potentials, though...I'm not sure if that's an actual title for them or just something people started calling them in S7. I've seen it either way.

Good question. I remember a brief phase back in the day when people were referring to them as SiTs: Slayers-in-Training, with those caps, so people were taking that one as a title. I think the episode "Potential" was the game-changer on one, although I know I continued to think and write about them as SiTs.

Hee. Well, if it helps any, it's very short. :)

And the *evol* just keeps on happening. ;) Putting it on tomorrow's "to read" list...

[fluffernutter8]

Slayer="I'm the current Slayer."
slayer="I'm the first slayer to live past 97.5"

At least that's how I see it and use it.

I think. Too lazy to look over my fic to see if that's actually true.

[jen_nsync_landl]

Okay, so "slayer" as part of the collective means no caps, but in terms of job description, caps.

slayer="I'm the first slayer to live past 97.5"

That is one old Slayer! (Right? Cap?)

*puzzles*

*g*

[fluffernutter8]

Correct on both counts! (I think. Looks right to me, I guess.)

I asked my brother to name a number between one and a hundred and he gave me 97.5, so there is now an elderly woman with the strength and skill to kill vampires running around.)

[jen_nsync_landl]

I asked my brother to name a number between one and a hundred and he gave me 97.5, so there is now an elderly woman with the strength and skill to kill vampires running around.)

She would, of course, be remarkably well-preserved, with all of those S(?)layer healing abilities and the like. She probably looks no more than 65. Tops. ;)

[angearia]

I feel it's always capitalized because it's a title. Like "I had a meeting with the President" is the same as "Spike made an alliance with the Slayer

[jen_nsync_landl]

So while Buffy is the Slayer (since she was truly the only one to solely bear the title in recent history), in Cleveland Mary Sue is the Slayer to all the demons she puts down.

Interesting. I hadn't been thinking of the "relativity" issue in quite this way, but that does make a certain degree of sense.

I wish I had my Chicago Manual of Style with me to read up on terms of address. But maybe it's a cheat to introduce the rules of the outside world into the Jossverse! ;)

[angearia]

Or think of it like a Slayer is part of a gang or a member of a sports team. Chicago Bulls - "She's a Bull." University of North Carolina Tar Hells - "She's a Tar Hell." And the best player on the basketball team - "She's the Tar Hell, yo!"

Secret Society - "He's a Mason."

[alwaysjbj]

As per your above (mom) example.

It should be capitalised when used in direct adress or very specifically used as a title, the rest of the time it should be lower case.

The same applies to watcher.

So: "You need to tap into those slayer powers of yours, Slayer," Spike taunted. (Yes, I know it's a super-crappy sentence, but you get the idea, right?)

[jen_nsync_landl]

*face*palm*

Great. Now you've introduced another wrinkle! *g*

I think I agree with you about the parallels between slayer and watcher re: capitalization...

Hmm, or do I? I can't really imagine "watcher" without the capitalization; it needs the cap to differentiate it from any person who watches, which gets me back to job title issue. Maybe slayer is an odd enough word that it seems to me not to need a capital.

Unless I think of my own job title: you refer to a professor with the cap if addressing one or saying it as a title, but not in other circumstances: "The professor was really phoning in that lecture!"

Well, I think I've just talked myself into further confusion! LOL

[alwaysjbj]

Yep, treat 'slayer' and 'watcher' exactly the same way you'd treat 'professor'.

[readerjane]

I vote always capitalized.

I see what you're saying about Mom/mom, but there are lots and lots of moms, and only one Slayer.

Well, only two.

Well, I guess now there are lots of them. But hey, you're writing in S2, so...

I dunno. Capital just looks right to me.

[jen_nsync_landl]

I see what you're saying about Mom/mom, but there are lots and lots of moms, and only one Slayer.

True, but if you think of the slayers as a continuum stretching back to the first (First Slayer? LOL), then there have been many, considering their life expectancy.

When I get home, I'm going to have to break out the dvds and look at some of the scripts to see if I can discern a pattern. I think I've actually followed the policies outlined by willowgreen above.

And things are happening on the story. I've finally dragged it into Spike POV after pages of simple dialogue, and it's coming along. It's just finding the time that's the challenge!

[readerjane]

I've got all the transcripts in zipped files. Yell if you want them. Only, yell quick 'cause I've got to pack up my laptop in the next hour.

[jen_nsync_landl]

Oh, yelling now! ;) I went back in my mailbox, thinking you'd already sent them, but either I lost them or you didn't send. I'd love Becoming I and II or S2 or however you've got them organized. :)

Gracias!