Dec 12 2007
Titles and Egos
The rule is, you should capitalize a formal title only when it comes immediately before a person’s name, forming a sort of title-name. Otherwise, make it lower case. For example …
RIGHT: They say President Bill Brown is a raging egotist.
RIGHT AGAIN: Bill Brown, the company’s president, is a raging egotist.
Unfortunately, some corporate officers are, in fact, raging egotists. They insist that their titles must always be capitalized, as in the following example:
WRONG: Jim Smith, our Vice President, has an ego the size of a Buick.
This presents a problem (with a capital “P”). When confronted with a “my way or the highway” dilemma such as this, do you take the moral high road, insist on correct punctuation and lose a job? Or do you cave in?
You cave in, of course. Don’t be a fool.
FYI: This rule even applies to United States presidents and popes.
