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#176759 05/09/08 11:13 AM
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A question re: capitalization of eponyms - Is there a rule? It seems that in some cases (possibly when they're a direct usage of the person or character's name) an eponym capitalized, where in others it is not. I note that in the example sentences, Pantagruelian is capitalized, but his fathers name is not treated with the same respect in Gargantuan.

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I suspect that the capitalization wears off after a while. How long it takes is more measured by mileage than by time. The word gargantuan is more commonly used than is the word Pantagruelian. I also think that modern coinages are less likely to be capitalized. A quick google shows borked capitalized only in headlines where every major word is capitalized.

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QED Lilliputian and Brobdingnagian. So many eponyms have to do with size don't they? Wonder why.

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Lynch, bork, boycott.

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bork - never heard that one before, obviously from American politics. Whilst we have many past and present politicians who would fit the bill of being a Robert Bork, I don't think any of them have given their names to a propensity to vituperatively attack your opposition (...though one ex-Prime Minister's idiolect is referred to as Hawkespeak).

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mercerize, mesmerize,

some eponyns are so well established, we forget there origins

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There is at least one country that is an eponym.

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Greenland?

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The A in USA is eponymic.

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No, Greenland isn't named after Mr Green, lol

The country I'm thinking of is named after a man whose first name was Simon.

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