makeup vs. make up

[bruxinha]

I'm not a native speaker of English and I probably speak a mix of both British and American English accent. As a teacher I am aware of many differences between both variations, but I need some help from native speakers on the words above and a few more.

I've learned that "makeup" is a noun and "make up" is a verb -- so far, so good (I'll leave out the question of the noun being hyphenated or not, to keep it simple). I could find some references on the internet and here in the forum that confirm the noun being written as one word and the verb as two words, for instance https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/i-dont-think-she-would-normally.275965/

However, a few days ago I found a teaching material online with pictures and words of some English words that we use every day in our language too (this is for little kids who are about to start learning the language, to show them they already say some words without really knowing they are English). One of these cards had the words "Make Up" on it; I also noticed that some of the others were written with capital letter, for instance "Rockstar" and "Cornflakes". I then asked the maker of these cards:
a) if those were typos or if there was any reason for writting them with a capital letter, unlike the rest of the cards,
and
b) if it was possible to edit the card with "Make Up" into "makeup", since the picture referred to the noun and not the verb.
[The material is from a German website for teachers, I'm not sure if I may referr it here because of advertising. If it's OK, please tell me so, I'll be glad to show you the source of this material.]

The answer really astonished me: she said that there was indeed a reason for writting those words with capitals, since they were proper names. And as an American native speaker she knew that Make up with two words is also "advertised" there.
She then proceeded in telling me that, according to the official curriculum, all varieties of English belong to teaching as a part of intercultural learning. As if I didn't knew!... I often teach my students both words or expressions even outside of the typical "British English / American English" units, I even tell them the Australian variation when I know it, I always accept American variations in tests when someone uses them (even though we've only learned the British so far - and some other fellow teachers are much stricter about this).

So, to cut a long story short:
a) Are "cornflakes" a proper name? I'm not sure if it is a brand name, but I've never seen it written with a capital letter. As for rockstar, is there anyone out there that can confirm the "proper name" status? As far as I know it's just a common name like other occupations or professions.
b) Can anyone confirm that "make up" in two words referrs to the noun in American English? How would you then mark the difference to the verb, just through context?

I don't trust blindly on what I read on Wikipedia, but even their homepage, under the entry "makeup", states that:

The alternative spelling make-up is favored by the Oxford Dictionary and thus is often considered to be British, while makeup, being preferred by Merriam Webster's dictionary, is the generally accepted American spelling.

 

[5jj]

The noun is never two words in BrE.. I use the hyphenated version, make-up.
Cornflakes is not a proper noun. Neither is rockstar.

 

[emsr2d2]

Rockstar is an energy drink,so it's a proper noun and should be capitalised. The term rock star, meaning someone famous for making (rock) music is two words and is not a proper noun.
Note that corn flakes, when talking about the generic breakfast cereal, is two words. That surprises a lot of people but just have a look at the Kellogg's box the next time you pass it in the supermarket.

 

[bruxinha]

Rockstar is an energy drink,so it's a proper noun and should be capitalised. The term rock star, meaning someone famous for making (rock) music is two words and is not a proper noun.
Note that corn flakes, when talking about the generic breakfast cereal, is two words. That surprises a lot of people but just have a look at the Kellogg's box the next time you pass it in the supermarket.

Thanks for your explanation! In this case the card referrs to a famous person and not to the energy drink. That's why I had asked the maker of this teaching material if it was possible to edit the cards. After all, it is an occupation/job like stewardess, pilot, cowboy and others that she included in her cards, and all the others were written with small letters. I still don't understand her statement about it being a proper noun...
As for the separate writting, I also thought it was suppossed to be two words, but found some internet entries with it being written in one word. Maybe it's an American variation? Can anyone confirm?
The same applies to the breakfast cereals, I've always written the name with two words (like rice flakes or oat flakes) and was surprised to find it as one word in Cambridge and Merriam-Webster's online dictionaries...

cornflakes

1. small, thin yellowish-orange pieces of dry food made from crushed maize…

dictionary.cambridge.org

Definition of CORNFLAKES

toasted flakes made from the coarse meal of hulled corn for use as a breakfast cereal… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

Not sure what to think about it... American English variation? Or just too much influence from bad online writing?

The noun is never two words in BrE.. I use the hyphenated version, make-up.
Cornflakes is not a proper noun. Neither is rockstar.

Hey, I've also learned "make-up" with hyphen, back in the mid-'80s! But I found out recently that:

Makeup may also be rendered as the hyphenated make-up, though since the 1980s the hyphen has been dropped for the most part.
Source: https://grammarist.com/usage/makeup-make-up-or-make-up/

This source confirms the two-word version as the verb, too. Is there any chance that "make up" with two words is considered a noun in the American English speaking area? What's the opinion of the AE native speakers? I don't know where the card maker comes from, but she said she is American native speaker...

 

[jutfrank]

I've learned that "makeup" is a noun and "make up" is a verb

Right. In fact, there's nothing special about make up at all—you can generalise this to other phrasal verbs too. Where any phrasal verb must be separated into its stem and its particle, the noun form is fused to make a single word. Note that the stress changes too.

The answer really astonished me: she said that there was indeed a reason for writting those words with capitals, since they were proper names.

She's wrong about this.

And as an American native speaker she knew that Make up with two words is also "advertised" there.

That's right—some cosmetics companies do this, yes. But that doesn't mean you should copy what advertisers do! As far as I know, most of the industry uses the correct one-word form.

a) Are "cornflakes" a proper name? I'm not sure if it is a brand name, but I've never seen it written with a capital letter. As for rockstar, is there anyone out there that can confirm the "proper name" status?

No. Neither is a proper noun. I have no idea what your friend was thinking.

b) Can anyone confirm that "make up" in two words referrs to the noun in American English?

As I said before, don't pay attention to what the advertising industry does. Use two words if it's a verb, and one word (whether hyphenated or not) if it's a noun.

 

[bruxinha]

Thanks a lot for your explanation, too! As a non-native speaker, my "language feeling" about this issue was right and all of you have underpinned my own opinion.

I have no idea what your friend was thinking.

She's not a friend, she's the publisher of the online teaching material I mentioned above. I don't know her personally.
I'll stick to my position and will ask her again kindly if she can edit the few cards; if she insists on her opinion, I'll have to photoshop her PDFs myself. I won't give my students any materials with mistakes on them!