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.

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.

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

Lynch, bork, boycott.

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).

mercerize, mesmerize,

some eponyns are so well established, we forget there origins

There is at least one country that is an eponym.

Greenland?

The A in USA is eponymic.

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.

>first name was Simon.

Legoland?

-ron o.

Templer, no,
Bolivar, Bolivia. I expect the prize to be a three week's trip to Bolivia.
(at least)
Not that shoddy tsuwm prize again that I got for Simon
the Stylite.

As is the Saud in Saudi Arabia.

Whoa, the prize goes to Branshea, all right! [bow e]

latishya--Saud who, please?

Saud

Thanks!

I don't think a letter can be an eponym can it? Doesn't it have to be a word? America is an eponym, as is Africa, but not 'A' (I think)?

Hello, The Pook. I think with all that blood rushing to your head, what with you hanging upside down off the bottom of the earth, has interefered with your thought process. Maybe you don't realize that USA is United States of America. It's just a lot easier to type. It's, like, synecdoche.

And his name wasn't Simon, it was Simón.

How excellent! I nearly replied to him saying it was synecdoche but decided my English was not strong enough to tell a native speaker something about his own language. Now I know I was right. Thank you.

yeah g'day

I know, it was, like, deliberate ironic pedantry. You should know by now that anything you say around here can and will be taken down literally and used against you...

yeah, but sometimes I just can't be bothered finding all those bothersome little accents. Wow, you're even more pedantic than I!

ó After all the country is called Bolivia, not Simónia.

He's from Australia. They don't speak English there.