Down South, Out West and Back East - Necessary to Capitalize?

JulieHowe · Oct 29, 2009

Does capitalizing Out West, Back East or Down South sound like an affectation in novel writing? For one of my characters living in the American South, it's significant that his brother went Out West in search of work, and his nephew went Back East for college. I was just curious to know if capitalizing these words in fiction writing makes the author seem like an arrogant jackass. A friend of mine from California now living in Alabama refers to her new life as being Down South, in a positive sense. 'I'm so glad I got out of that hellhole and moved Down South when I had the chance.' She emphasizes the Down South like the words were sacred, as do most of the other people I know who were born in the South but now live somewhere else.

girlyswot · Oct 30, 2009

I would capitalise the compass directions but not the qualifying adjectives: out West, back East, down South. To do it the way that you have it written doesn't suggest to me arrogance so much as ignorance.

Jamesaritchie · Oct 30, 2009

I think your friend has the right idea. It's her way of saying the south has great meaning for her. This is the way writers should use words.

JulieHowe · Oct 30, 2009

Thanks to you both!

Lost World · Nov 7, 2009

girlyswot said:
I would capitalise the compass directions but not the qualifying adjectives: out West, back East, down South. To do it the way that you have it written doesn't suggest to me arrogance so much as ignorance.

This is the truth of it. When used to define a region the points of the compass are capitalized; however, the only time to capitalize the adjective would be to clarify certain special time periods/epochs: the Old West, the New South (see this one a lot these days), Tsarist Russia, etc...

In contrast, you wouldn't capitalize the adjective in something like: the industrial Northeast, down South, or up North.

veronie · Nov 7, 2009

What Lost World said.

And to clarify one issue, compass points would not be capitalized if you're saying something like, "I'm driving east," or, "She lives just north of us." You capitalize them when you're talking about a region that is essentially a proper noun: The North, the South, the West, the Midwest, the East Coast, etc.

Down South, Out West and Back East - Necessary to Capitalize?

JulieHowe

Spent the night with Jack Daniels

girlyswot

Jamesaritchie

JulieHowe

Spent the night with Jack Daniels

Lost World

He'll NEVER fit in!

veronie

practical experience, FTW