U-pick or u-pick?

[garyplus5]

Should the U in u-pick be capitalized? I can't find a rule of capitalization that says it should be. If so, why? And should the P in pick be capitalized as well? I'm thinking u-pick should be lower case, after all, isn't self-serve?

 

[probus]

Although u-pick is commonly used in the United States, it is not standard English. Therefore there is no rule about whether or not to capitalize either the u or the p.

 

[SoothingDave]

I'm in the US and I've never heard of a U-Pick. Apparently, it's what I would call a "pick your own" farm.

 

[Skrej]

I've never heard of it either, in my part of the US. I just supposed it was a stylized trademark, similar to U-haul.

We do have a local fruit orchard which describes themselves as 'pick your own"

From their website:
We are a fifth-generation family-owned pick-your-own orchard located South of *****, KS. We sell peaches, pears, pumpkins, and apples.

 

[GoesStation]

Google Maps finds a bunch of places when I search for "u-pick near me". The first is an asparagus farm with "U-pick" in its name.

 

[probus]

I think "u-pick" is mostly southern U.S. dialect. My folks used to have a winter home in Naples Florida. In those days there was plenty of agriculture nearby and signs for "u-pick" produce were commonplace.

 

[jutfrank]

I don't properly understand this. Do people use the word u-pick as a common countable noun? Or as a name?

Let's go to a u-pick tomorrow.

In the sentence above, u-pick is being used as a common noun. There's no reason to capitalize.

 

[GoesStation]

I don't properly understand this. Do people use the word u-pick as a common countable noun? Or as a name?

Let's go to a u-pick tomorrow.

In the sentence above, u-pick is being used as a common noun. There's no reason to capitalize.

It's usually part of the name of a business. The "U" is capitalized both to show it's part of a proper noun and to emphasize that it's pronounced like the name of the letter.

 

[probus]

Do people use the word u-pick as a common countable noun? Or as a name?

Let's go to a u-pick tomorrow.

That's a very plausible use of u-pick as a common noun. With all respect to my learned friend GoesStation, I don't agree that that there is any need to capitalize it. In fairness, however, the Florida signs I am remembering were usually daubed with a wide paintbrush by people whose literacy was slight.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

That's a very plausible use of u-pick as a common noun. With all respect to my learned friend GoesStation, I don't agree that that there is any need to capitalize it. In fairness, however, the Florida signs I am remembering were usually daubed with a wide paintbrush by people whose literacy was slight.

I'd swing either way.

When I see T-shirt, V-neck, X-ray, T-bone, and I-beam, the stand-alone letter is usually capitalized. But I just Googled it and found it both ways.

So the important thing is probably to be consistent.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm glad someone explained what u-pick is. In the UK, they're called "PYO" farms/orchards - Pick Your Own. A similar initialism is used to indicate that a restaurant doesn't have a licence to sell alcohol and that, if you want to drink alcohol, you need to bring it yourself. That's a BYO restaurant - Bring Your Own. Usually, you're charged a small "corkage fee" (about £2 last time I did it).

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I'm glad someone explained what u-pick is. In the UK, they're called "PYO" farms/orchards - Pick Your Own. A similar initialism is used to indicate that a restaurant doesn't have a licence to sell alcohol and that, if you want to drink alcohol, you need to bring it yourself. That's a BYO restaurant - Bring Your Own. Usually, you're charged a small "corkage fee" (about £2 last time I did it).

We say BYO or BYOB here, but PYO is a new one. I like it.

 

[probus]

As you are probably aware, ems, the French have a kind of opposite to BYO. Years ago, while visiting Paris, I saw a sign in a restaurant window: vin à volonté. Then I made a mistake. I told my wife what it meant. No vin à volonté for me. :-(

 

[Rover_KE]

Please enlighten us.

 

[jutfrank]

When I see T-shirt, V-neck, X-ray, T-bone, and I-beam, the stand-alone letter is usually capitalized. But I just Googled it and found it both ways.

The examples in bold represent the shape of the thing, so I'd say a capital letter is necessary in those. You're not going to buy a shirt, or eat a steak, with the shape of a lower case 't'. We customarily use capital letters when we're thinking about shape.

The capitalisation of the plumbing item U-bend follows the same principle, but the 'u' in u-pick is not comparable, I don't think, since it represents a word.