Skip to main content

capitalization - Specifying geography with cardinal directions



So here in America we are in "the West".


Would this become "the Western world" or "the western world? "


I'll assume the same applies to "the East" (Asia).



Answer



There are quite a few rules when dealing with cardinal directions. When they refer to a specific region, they will use an article and be capitalised. i.e. the North and the Southwest. If you are just specifying a direction, then there should be no capitalisation.


When used as an adjective, there are three general scenarios:
1. We are referring to a general location, i.e. western temperatures or southern England.
2. We are referring to the population of a region or the activities of that population, i.e. Eastern cricket.
3. The adjective is part of a proper name.


So: In America you are in the West. America is part of North America, which is part of the northern Americas, which are part of the western world.


I shan't put a TL;DR here this time, since I'm off to bed, but I'll try to put one here on the 'morrow.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more