Perhaps this is a rant, perhaps not, perhaps it is just autistic rambling, but it has been bugging me for a long while now: capitalisation of alien species.
The vast majority of sci-fi works writes nouns and adjectives of intelligent (and sometimes even non-intelligent) life forms in uppercase, such as Terrans, Klingons, Vulcans, Wookiees, Kha'ak, Asari and Tyranids. Not all—there are exceptions—but it is the majority and includes the most well-known franchises.
Which is a blatant disregard of grammar rules in many cases, as proper nouns and adjectives would only be those which are derived from other proper nouns, i.e. place/planet names in the case of science fiction. If we go by that rule, only Terrans (from Terra), Vulcans (from Vulcan) and Tyranids (first documented encounter by mankind during the Tyranid invasion of the planet Tyran and presumably named after that, but also perhaps not) should be written in uppercase.
The TiTS Submission Guide agrees with the rules of grammar here, stating:
A rule which is at odds with common sci-fi convention but regardless seems to be ignored by many anyway, even writers that are members of the official staff.
Take the in-game codex for example. Out of the 25 core world race codices I have unlocked, only Ausar, Daynar, Leithans and the first paragraph of Dzaan treat them as proper nouns.
By the guide, capitalisation shouldn't apply to the Daynar (planet Venar), Leithans (from a seemingly unnamed planet orbiting Alpha Centauri) and Dzaan (Heloith IV), whereas Galotians (Galotia) should always be uppercase. Looking at it, there are surprisingly few species named after their home world.
But those are just from the codex. Out in the wild, capitalisation is all over the place. Mostly, all seems to be kept in lowercase regardless of rules, but there is plenty of shifting around. Inconsistencies in the works of the same author, scene, paragraph or even sentence. Even with "Terran" is comes down to a coin toss whether it's capitalised or not.
It is a mess, really. One that not many are aware off or care about; it is frankly a small thing to be hung up on and in fiction highly up to preference and convention anyway, but a mess nonetheless.
But what do we do?
Should I go into the bug report section and meticulously point out every single mistake I find? If so, which rule do I adhere to: the guide or the sci-fi establishment? As grammatically correct as the guide is, it fights a losing battle. Simplifying the matter by capitalising all sentient species would be more effective. Do I go against everything and put all in lowercase? Or do I throw the towel, try to stop caring and let authors decide which rules they want to use?
What do you think? If your write, what rules do you follow?
The vast majority of sci-fi works writes nouns and adjectives of intelligent (and sometimes even non-intelligent) life forms in uppercase, such as Terrans, Klingons, Vulcans, Wookiees, Kha'ak, Asari and Tyranids. Not all—there are exceptions—but it is the majority and includes the most well-known franchises.
Which is a blatant disregard of grammar rules in many cases, as proper nouns and adjectives would only be those which are derived from other proper nouns, i.e. place/planet names in the case of science fiction. If we go by that rule, only Terrans (from Terra), Vulcans (from Vulcan) and Tyranids (first documented encounter by mankind during the Tyranid invasion of the planet Tyran and presumably named after that, but also perhaps not) should be written in uppercase.
The TiTS Submission Guide agrees with the rules of grammar here, stating:
It sadly fails to mention what to do with adjectives.
A rule which is at odds with common sci-fi convention but regardless seems to be ignored by many anyway, even writers that are members of the official staff.
Take the in-game codex for example. Out of the 25 core world race codices I have unlocked, only Ausar, Daynar, Leithans and the first paragraph of Dzaan treat them as proper nouns.
By the guide, capitalisation shouldn't apply to the Daynar (planet Venar), Leithans (from a seemingly unnamed planet orbiting Alpha Centauri) and Dzaan (Heloith IV), whereas Galotians (Galotia) should always be uppercase. Looking at it, there are surprisingly few species named after their home world.
But those are just from the codex. Out in the wild, capitalisation is all over the place. Mostly, all seems to be kept in lowercase regardless of rules, but there is plenty of shifting around. Inconsistencies in the works of the same author, scene, paragraph or even sentence. Even with "Terran" is comes down to a coin toss whether it's capitalised or not.
It is a mess, really. One that not many are aware off or care about; it is frankly a small thing to be hung up on and in fiction highly up to preference and convention anyway, but a mess nonetheless.
But what do we do?
Should I go into the bug report section and meticulously point out every single mistake I find? If so, which rule do I adhere to: the guide or the sci-fi establishment? As grammatically correct as the guide is, it fights a losing battle. Simplifying the matter by capitalising all sentient species would be more effective. Do I go against everything and put all in lowercase? Or do I throw the towel, try to stop caring and let authors decide which rules they want to use?
What do you think? If your write, what rules do you follow?
