Why are some book titles not capitalized?












2















I am learning Breton (le breton) and capitalization is clearly different in French (le français) and English (l'anglais).



I wanted to buy a book so I went to https://www.pourlesnuls.fr/. There I could buy




L'Histoie de la guerre pour les nuls



Les Grandes Théories économiques pour les nuls



La Physique quantique pour les nuls




All the capitalization seemed to agree with the standard rules for French titles as I understand them:




the first noun is capitalized



any preceding adjective is capitalized



everything else follows standard French rules




so why are languages not capitalized when they are the first noun of the title?




Le français sans faute pour les nuls



L'anglais pour les nuls



Le breton pour les nuls







orthographe majuscules titres







share|improve this question









New contributor




David Robinson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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  • 2





    I search the exact rule on the internet, and you're almost right. The first noun and preceding adjectives are capitalized only if the the first word is the article of the said word. In this case, "le français" is apparently an exception, because "Français" capitalized is the name of the nationality, so it is not capitalized in order to not mix up.

    – Lyzvaleska
    7 hours ago













  • Thank you, @Lyzvaleska, I was nearly right. But that still suggests that it should be Le Breton!

    – David Robinson
    7 hours ago
















2















I am learning Breton (le breton) and capitalization is clearly different in French (le français) and English (l'anglais).



I wanted to buy a book so I went to https://www.pourlesnuls.fr/. There I could buy




L'Histoie de la guerre pour les nuls



Les Grandes Théories économiques pour les nuls



La Physique quantique pour les nuls




All the capitalization seemed to agree with the standard rules for French titles as I understand them:




the first noun is capitalized



any preceding adjective is capitalized



everything else follows standard French rules




so why are languages not capitalized when they are the first noun of the title?




Le français sans faute pour les nuls



L'anglais pour les nuls



Le breton pour les nuls







orthographe majuscules titres







share|improve this question









New contributor




David Robinson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
















  • 2





    I search the exact rule on the internet, and you're almost right. The first noun and preceding adjectives are capitalized only if the the first word is the article of the said word. In this case, "le français" is apparently an exception, because "Français" capitalized is the name of the nationality, so it is not capitalized in order to not mix up.

    – Lyzvaleska
    7 hours ago













  • Thank you, @Lyzvaleska, I was nearly right. But that still suggests that it should be Le Breton!

    – David Robinson
    7 hours ago














2












2








2








I am learning Breton (le breton) and capitalization is clearly different in French (le français) and English (l'anglais).



I wanted to buy a book so I went to https://www.pourlesnuls.fr/. There I could buy




L'Histoie de la guerre pour les nuls



Les Grandes Théories économiques pour les nuls



La Physique quantique pour les nuls




All the capitalization seemed to agree with the standard rules for French titles as I understand them:




the first noun is capitalized



any preceding adjective is capitalized



everything else follows standard French rules




so why are languages not capitalized when they are the first noun of the title?




Le français sans faute pour les nuls



L'anglais pour les nuls



Le breton pour les nuls







orthographe majuscules titres







share|improve this question









New contributor




David Robinson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












I am learning Breton (le breton) and capitalization is clearly different in French (le français) and English (l'anglais).



I wanted to buy a book so I went to https://www.pourlesnuls.fr/. There I could buy




L'Histoie de la guerre pour les nuls



Les Grandes Théories économiques pour les nuls



La Physique quantique pour les nuls




All the capitalization seemed to agree with the standard rules for French titles as I understand them:




the first noun is capitalized



any preceding adjective is capitalized



everything else follows standard French rules




so why are languages not capitalized when they are the first noun of the title?




Le français sans faute pour les nuls



L'anglais pour les nuls



Le breton pour les nuls







orthographe majuscules titres




orthographe majuscules titres






share|improve this question









New contributor




David Robinson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|improve this question









New contributor




David Robinson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 7 hours ago









Gilles♦

42.4k882193




42.4k882193






New contributor




David Robinson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









asked 9 hours ago









David RobinsonDavid Robinson

1112




1112




New contributor




David Robinson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





David Robinson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






David Robinson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.








  • 2





    I search the exact rule on the internet, and you're almost right. The first noun and preceding adjectives are capitalized only if the the first word is the article of the said word. In this case, "le français" is apparently an exception, because "Français" capitalized is the name of the nationality, so it is not capitalized in order to not mix up.

    – Lyzvaleska
    7 hours ago













  • Thank you, @Lyzvaleska, I was nearly right. But that still suggests that it should be Le Breton!

    – David Robinson
    7 hours ago














  • 2





    I search the exact rule on the internet, and you're almost right. The first noun and preceding adjectives are capitalized only if the the first word is the article of the said word. In this case, "le français" is apparently an exception, because "Français" capitalized is the name of the nationality, so it is not capitalized in order to not mix up.

    – Lyzvaleska
    7 hours ago













  • Thank you, @Lyzvaleska, I was nearly right. But that still suggests that it should be Le Breton!

    – David Robinson
    7 hours ago








2




2





I search the exact rule on the internet, and you're almost right. The first noun and preceding adjectives are capitalized only if the the first word is the article of the said word. In this case, "le français" is apparently an exception, because "Français" capitalized is the name of the nationality, so it is not capitalized in order to not mix up.

– Lyzvaleska
7 hours ago







I search the exact rule on the internet, and you're almost right. The first noun and preceding adjectives are capitalized only if the the first word is the article of the said word. In this case, "le français" is apparently an exception, because "Français" capitalized is the name of the nationality, so it is not capitalized in order to not mix up.

– Lyzvaleska
7 hours ago















Thank you, @Lyzvaleska, I was nearly right. But that still suggests that it should be Le Breton!

– David Robinson
7 hours ago





Thank you, @Lyzvaleska, I was nearly right. But that still suggests that it should be Le Breton!

– David Robinson
7 hours ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















2














The capitalization of the first noun is not mandatory. It is capitalized when using the traditional conventions but publishers can choose to use simplified ones where only the first word is required to be capitalized (here Le).



Note that this non capitalization can be found elsewhere, for example in this book:



enter image description here



Sometimes the rules are broken and fully lowercase titles are used:



enter image description here



One reason the lowercase variant might has been selected in the Pour les nuls collection is that it removes a possible ambiguity, le Français sans faute pour les nuls can be understood by a careless reader as The Frenchman without misconduct for dummies.



Same with The Englishman for dummies






share|improve this answer


























  • Your second point seems really sensible and plausible. But as for the first point: even if there are two conventions, it is strange that one publisher uses different conventions for different books. Incidentally, style guides usually say there is one rule for English titles, one for French titles, and no special rules for other languages, which is, you say, the new rule for French. This is not quite true, as minority languages in French-speaking countries (e.g. Breton) usually use French rules and minority languages in English-speaking countries (e.g. Welsh, Gaelic) usually use English rules.

    – David Robinson
    7 hours ago











  • As you wrote, it is a convention, not a rule. Not following a convention is not the same as breaking a rule. All the books use lowercase for language names so they decided to be consistent. I don't get what you mean with minority languages. The book title is in French, not Brezhoneg, and regional languages are free to use the conventions and rules they like.

    – jlliagre
    6 hours ago











  • My point, @jlliagre, was simply that style guides are usually wrong because they leave out minority languages when they say that French and English are the only languages that have special rules for titles.

    – David Robinson
    6 hours ago











  • Ah, Okay. I misunderstood that part then. There are likely capitalization conventions in all languages, or at least those using alphabets with a distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters. Latin had not that issue ;-)

    – jlliagre
    6 hours ago











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1 Answer
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active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









2














The capitalization of the first noun is not mandatory. It is capitalized when using the traditional conventions but publishers can choose to use simplified ones where only the first word is required to be capitalized (here Le).



Note that this non capitalization can be found elsewhere, for example in this book:



enter image description here



Sometimes the rules are broken and fully lowercase titles are used:



enter image description here



One reason the lowercase variant might has been selected in the Pour les nuls collection is that it removes a possible ambiguity, le Français sans faute pour les nuls can be understood by a careless reader as The Frenchman without misconduct for dummies.



Same with The Englishman for dummies






share|improve this answer


























  • Your second point seems really sensible and plausible. But as for the first point: even if there are two conventions, it is strange that one publisher uses different conventions for different books. Incidentally, style guides usually say there is one rule for English titles, one for French titles, and no special rules for other languages, which is, you say, the new rule for French. This is not quite true, as minority languages in French-speaking countries (e.g. Breton) usually use French rules and minority languages in English-speaking countries (e.g. Welsh, Gaelic) usually use English rules.

    – David Robinson
    7 hours ago











  • As you wrote, it is a convention, not a rule. Not following a convention is not the same as breaking a rule. All the books use lowercase for language names so they decided to be consistent. I don't get what you mean with minority languages. The book title is in French, not Brezhoneg, and regional languages are free to use the conventions and rules they like.

    – jlliagre
    6 hours ago











  • My point, @jlliagre, was simply that style guides are usually wrong because they leave out minority languages when they say that French and English are the only languages that have special rules for titles.

    – David Robinson
    6 hours ago











  • Ah, Okay. I misunderstood that part then. There are likely capitalization conventions in all languages, or at least those using alphabets with a distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters. Latin had not that issue ;-)

    – jlliagre
    6 hours ago
















2














The capitalization of the first noun is not mandatory. It is capitalized when using the traditional conventions but publishers can choose to use simplified ones where only the first word is required to be capitalized (here Le).



Note that this non capitalization can be found elsewhere, for example in this book:



enter image description here



Sometimes the rules are broken and fully lowercase titles are used:



enter image description here



One reason the lowercase variant might has been selected in the Pour les nuls collection is that it removes a possible ambiguity, le Français sans faute pour les nuls can be understood by a careless reader as The Frenchman without misconduct for dummies.



Same with The Englishman for dummies






share|improve this answer


























  • Your second point seems really sensible and plausible. But as for the first point: even if there are two conventions, it is strange that one publisher uses different conventions for different books. Incidentally, style guides usually say there is one rule for English titles, one for French titles, and no special rules for other languages, which is, you say, the new rule for French. This is not quite true, as minority languages in French-speaking countries (e.g. Breton) usually use French rules and minority languages in English-speaking countries (e.g. Welsh, Gaelic) usually use English rules.

    – David Robinson
    7 hours ago











  • As you wrote, it is a convention, not a rule. Not following a convention is not the same as breaking a rule. All the books use lowercase for language names so they decided to be consistent. I don't get what you mean with minority languages. The book title is in French, not Brezhoneg, and regional languages are free to use the conventions and rules they like.

    – jlliagre
    6 hours ago











  • My point, @jlliagre, was simply that style guides are usually wrong because they leave out minority languages when they say that French and English are the only languages that have special rules for titles.

    – David Robinson
    6 hours ago











  • Ah, Okay. I misunderstood that part then. There are likely capitalization conventions in all languages, or at least those using alphabets with a distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters. Latin had not that issue ;-)

    – jlliagre
    6 hours ago














2












2








2







The capitalization of the first noun is not mandatory. It is capitalized when using the traditional conventions but publishers can choose to use simplified ones where only the first word is required to be capitalized (here Le).



Note that this non capitalization can be found elsewhere, for example in this book:



enter image description here



Sometimes the rules are broken and fully lowercase titles are used:



enter image description here



One reason the lowercase variant might has been selected in the Pour les nuls collection is that it removes a possible ambiguity, le Français sans faute pour les nuls can be understood by a careless reader as The Frenchman without misconduct for dummies.



Same with The Englishman for dummies






share|improve this answer















The capitalization of the first noun is not mandatory. It is capitalized when using the traditional conventions but publishers can choose to use simplified ones where only the first word is required to be capitalized (here Le).



Note that this non capitalization can be found elsewhere, for example in this book:



enter image description here



Sometimes the rules are broken and fully lowercase titles are used:



enter image description here



One reason the lowercase variant might has been selected in the Pour les nuls collection is that it removes a possible ambiguity, le Français sans faute pour les nuls can be understood by a careless reader as The Frenchman without misconduct for dummies.



Same with The Englishman for dummies







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 6 hours ago

























answered 7 hours ago









jlliagrejlliagre

64.3k244102




64.3k244102













  • Your second point seems really sensible and plausible. But as for the first point: even if there are two conventions, it is strange that one publisher uses different conventions for different books. Incidentally, style guides usually say there is one rule for English titles, one for French titles, and no special rules for other languages, which is, you say, the new rule for French. This is not quite true, as minority languages in French-speaking countries (e.g. Breton) usually use French rules and minority languages in English-speaking countries (e.g. Welsh, Gaelic) usually use English rules.

    – David Robinson
    7 hours ago











  • As you wrote, it is a convention, not a rule. Not following a convention is not the same as breaking a rule. All the books use lowercase for language names so they decided to be consistent. I don't get what you mean with minority languages. The book title is in French, not Brezhoneg, and regional languages are free to use the conventions and rules they like.

    – jlliagre
    6 hours ago











  • My point, @jlliagre, was simply that style guides are usually wrong because they leave out minority languages when they say that French and English are the only languages that have special rules for titles.

    – David Robinson
    6 hours ago











  • Ah, Okay. I misunderstood that part then. There are likely capitalization conventions in all languages, or at least those using alphabets with a distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters. Latin had not that issue ;-)

    – jlliagre
    6 hours ago



















  • Your second point seems really sensible and plausible. But as for the first point: even if there are two conventions, it is strange that one publisher uses different conventions for different books. Incidentally, style guides usually say there is one rule for English titles, one for French titles, and no special rules for other languages, which is, you say, the new rule for French. This is not quite true, as minority languages in French-speaking countries (e.g. Breton) usually use French rules and minority languages in English-speaking countries (e.g. Welsh, Gaelic) usually use English rules.

    – David Robinson
    7 hours ago











  • As you wrote, it is a convention, not a rule. Not following a convention is not the same as breaking a rule. All the books use lowercase for language names so they decided to be consistent. I don't get what you mean with minority languages. The book title is in French, not Brezhoneg, and regional languages are free to use the conventions and rules they like.

    – jlliagre
    6 hours ago











  • My point, @jlliagre, was simply that style guides are usually wrong because they leave out minority languages when they say that French and English are the only languages that have special rules for titles.

    – David Robinson
    6 hours ago











  • Ah, Okay. I misunderstood that part then. There are likely capitalization conventions in all languages, or at least those using alphabets with a distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters. Latin had not that issue ;-)

    – jlliagre
    6 hours ago

















Your second point seems really sensible and plausible. But as for the first point: even if there are two conventions, it is strange that one publisher uses different conventions for different books. Incidentally, style guides usually say there is one rule for English titles, one for French titles, and no special rules for other languages, which is, you say, the new rule for French. This is not quite true, as minority languages in French-speaking countries (e.g. Breton) usually use French rules and minority languages in English-speaking countries (e.g. Welsh, Gaelic) usually use English rules.

– David Robinson
7 hours ago





Your second point seems really sensible and plausible. But as for the first point: even if there are two conventions, it is strange that one publisher uses different conventions for different books. Incidentally, style guides usually say there is one rule for English titles, one for French titles, and no special rules for other languages, which is, you say, the new rule for French. This is not quite true, as minority languages in French-speaking countries (e.g. Breton) usually use French rules and minority languages in English-speaking countries (e.g. Welsh, Gaelic) usually use English rules.

– David Robinson
7 hours ago













As you wrote, it is a convention, not a rule. Not following a convention is not the same as breaking a rule. All the books use lowercase for language names so they decided to be consistent. I don't get what you mean with minority languages. The book title is in French, not Brezhoneg, and regional languages are free to use the conventions and rules they like.

– jlliagre
6 hours ago





As you wrote, it is a convention, not a rule. Not following a convention is not the same as breaking a rule. All the books use lowercase for language names so they decided to be consistent. I don't get what you mean with minority languages. The book title is in French, not Brezhoneg, and regional languages are free to use the conventions and rules they like.

– jlliagre
6 hours ago













My point, @jlliagre, was simply that style guides are usually wrong because they leave out minority languages when they say that French and English are the only languages that have special rules for titles.

– David Robinson
6 hours ago





My point, @jlliagre, was simply that style guides are usually wrong because they leave out minority languages when they say that French and English are the only languages that have special rules for titles.

– David Robinson
6 hours ago













Ah, Okay. I misunderstood that part then. There are likely capitalization conventions in all languages, or at least those using alphabets with a distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters. Latin had not that issue ;-)

– jlliagre
6 hours ago





Ah, Okay. I misunderstood that part then. There are likely capitalization conventions in all languages, or at least those using alphabets with a distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters. Latin had not that issue ;-)

– jlliagre
6 hours ago










David Robinson is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










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