Gergraphical names

[emsr2d2]

Re: Geographical names

The Wikipedia entry for West Region shows good examples of the capitalisation or non-capitalisation of direction words. You can read it HERE.

In case you can't access the page, the third paragraph reads "The region is located on the western seaboard of Ireland with the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the River Shannon delimiting the region to the east. The West Region is largely rural, with only 30% of its population living in urban areas." (The boldface is mine.)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

''Western'' is not part of name in my example. Judging by the examples given in the dictionary ''western Spain'', ''all over the western hemisphere'' ''westerm'' doesn't need to be capitalised. I was asking about a similar sentence. Why are you confused?

Good point. Sometimes the choice just reflects the writer's point of view.

For instance, I live in the northern part of the US. Americans who think of north as a direction would say I live in the north. Those who think of it as the name of a region call it the North.

Sometimes it's not debatable. The US has a North Dakota and a South Dakota. Those are proper names for two separate places. There is no Dakota. So saying north Dakota or south Dakota would be wrong.

 

[GoesStation]

Re: Geographical names

There is an area in Ireland called the West Region. It is a place name, and it is capitalized. (The region is mostly rural. Galway is the largest city.)

At the risk of wandering off the topic, this seems like a good time to mention that there's a city called North East in northwest Pennsylvania. I've abandoned my onetime ambition to live in southwest North East, but I still feel it was a noble one.

 

[SoothingDave]

To be fair, North East is just a few miles to the west of New York state. It is literally in the northeast corner of the protrusion that gets the state its access to Lake Erie.

 

[probus]

Also in the parenthetical remarks department, it has been seriously proposed that North Dakota change its name to just plain Dakota. Apparently some people thought "north" disadvantageous if not downright pejorative.

 

[SoothingDave]

They thought it made people think of "cold."

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Also in the parenthetical remarks department, it has been seriously proposed that North Dakota change its name to just plain Dakota. Apparently some people thought "north" disadvantageous if not downright pejorative.

Here in the US, whether north or south is perjorative depends on which one you live in.

 

[Tarheel]

Geographical names

Well, here in Charlotte most people are from somewhere else.

 

[probus]

Here in the US, whether north or south is perjorative depends on which one you live in.

Bumper sticker seen in Florida:

When I get old I'm going to move up north and drive slow in the fast lane.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Re: Geographical names

Well, here in Charlotte most people are from somewhere else.

You're probably the ony Tarheel left.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Bumper sticker seen in Florida:

When I get old I'm going to move up north and drive slow in the fast lane.

Lot's of luck. Here in Maine, we don't have fast lanes. We have Florida RVs on two-lane roads crawling along to enjoy the view (of the quaint natives backed up behind them).

 

[Tarheel]

Re: Geographical names

You're probably the ony Tarheel left.

There are plenty of us, but nobody will come closer than six feet. (Kidding.)

 

[Tarheel]

Re: Geographical names

You're probably the ony Tarheel left.

I'm one of those people from somewhere else.
;-)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Re: Geographical names

I'm one of those people from somewhere else.
;-)

When I get done here, I'm going to phone my from-somewhere-else sister in Burnsville.

Nice state you adopted!