# Chicago style: foreign plurals & "state" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-style-foreign-plurals-state/414283 "2007-08-03T13:50:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-style-foreign-plurals-state/414283/1 "2007-08-03T13:50:44Z")
I’ve been reading my Chicago style book very carefully, but have not been able to come up with the answers to a couple of questions. I’m hoping someone here might have had some experience with these – (1) Plurals of foreign words, in particular currencies. My instinct is that when a foreign word, in this case the name of a currency, is used in English, that its plural is formed as if it is an English word. Example: _15,000 Nigerian nairas_ The original I’m working with had it as _15,000 naira_ The Chicago sections on plurals and foreign currencies don’t seem to address this, except that I found that the plural of _euro_ is _euros_. (2) Capitalization of “state” when used with the name of a state, but not as its official name. Here I’m talking about Nigerian states Example: _the states of Rivers, Bayelsa, and Delta_; _Delta state_ The author has it as _Delta State_. Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-style-foreign-plurals-state/414283/2 "2007-08-03T14:00:10Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] I’ve been reading my Chicago style book very carefully, but have not been able to come up with the answers to a couple of questions. I’m hoping someone here might have had some experience with these – (1) Plurals of foreign words, in particular currencies. My instinct is that when a foreign word, in this case the name of a currency, is used in English, that its plural is formed as if it is an English word. [/quote] You would defer to the dictionary if the style manual doesn’t cover it. I’m not sure if Chicago Manual of Style recommends a particular dictionary, but American Heritage pluralizes “naira” as “naira” (no terminating “s”). Every other citation I could find on “naira” (including the CIA World Factbook, for instance) also pluralizes it this way. > [@](#): > > (2) Capitalization of “state” when used with the name of a state, but not as its official name. Here I’m talking about Nigerian states > > Example: _the states of Rivers, Bayelsa, and Delta_; _Delta state_ > > The author has it as _Delta State_. The entirety of Delta State looks like a proper noun to me, and just quickly perusing the Internet, it seems that is the case. “Delta state” would look incorrect to me. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-style-foreign-plurals-state/414283/3 "2007-08-03T14:06:08Z")
I took a quick look at my Merriam-Webster under “monetary units,” and it doesn’t seem to be consistent. Some use the English “-s” to pluralize. Some use the singular also as a plural (and not the native plural), and some use the native plural. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-style-foreign-plurals-state/414283/4 "2007-08-03T14:12:00Z")
RE: 2 CMS 15[sup]th[/sup] 8.55 gives “the New England states” as an example. But how is the author using Nigerian and Delta states? _Are_ they proper nouns? That is, “New England” refers to the region, and whether it is New England states, mountains, foliage, etc., only NE is the proper noun. But you also have the Caribbean Community and the League of Arab States, all capitalized as proper nouns. is the whole passel of states being referred to as a specific entity, or a group of entities in a particular region? I think this is one of the more interesting bits of editing… there are the follow-the-rules edits, then there are the what-am-I-trying-to-say edits. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-style-foreign-plurals-state/414283/5 "2007-08-03T14:18:42Z")
missed edit window… just wanted to quickly add: If it helps at all, the UN style guide I use most often says: > [@](#): > > The word ‘state’ is capitalized in specific references when it refers to a county, but not when referring to a part of a federal entity, such as the state of New York or the states of Brazil, or as an adjective, as in ‘state’ school. I take that to imply that if the Nigerian and Delta S/states have come together to form a political entity (e.g., Small Island Developing States, Organization of American States) then capitalize away! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-style-foreign-plurals-state/414283/6 "2007-08-03T14:26:28Z")
The situation is that Nigeria is subdivided into entities called “states,” just like the United States is. (I don’t know whether they are considered sovereign entities like the U.S. states are, but that’s beside the point, I guess.) “Bayelsa,” “Rivers,” and “Delta” are names of three of these subdivisions. The document always refers to them with the word state, because, I suppose common words like “Rivers” and “Delta,” especially when you’re talking about a delta region with a lot of rivers, might be a bit confusing. So it’s always “in Rivers State,” “in Delta State,” etc. But unless the official name of the entity is actually “Rivers State,” my instinct is to go with “Rivers state.” ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-style-foreign-plurals-state/414283/7 "2007-08-03T14:40:46Z")
This [currency site](http://www.currencysystem.com/kb/3-144.html) doesn’t answer the OP directly but instead discusses the difficulties in achieving uniformity _vis-a-vis_ Singular vs. Plural Form across various languages. Third paragraph from the end. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-style-foreign-plurals-state/414283/8 "2007-08-03T14:50:24Z")
That’s a very interesting reference, Chez. I wonder why Chicago neglects to mention this issue. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-style-foreign-plurals-state/414283/9 "2007-08-03T17:43:21Z")
> [@](#): > > The Chicago sections on plurals and foreign currencies don’t seem to address this, except that I found that the plural of euro is euros. Most peculiar, since in the one English-speaking country which uses the euro, the plural is “euro”. I.e., in Ireland, a price might be quoted as “only five euro”, or some such. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-style-foreign-plurals-state/414283/10 "2007-08-03T18:25:46Z")
Well, the link that Chez supplied says that the European Commission’s guideline says that the “natural” rules of whatever language you’re using should guide you in deciding what the plural for “euro” is and that in English and Spanish, “euros” gained acceptance quickly. Can I complain about Chicago’s paragraph numbering style? I keep looking for 9.25 to be between 9.2 and 9.3. Whose bright idea was it to use what looks exactly like a decimal point to designate subsections? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-style-foreign-plurals-state/414283/11 "2007-08-03T19:16:36Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] So it’s always “in Rivers State,” “in Delta State,” etc. But unless the official name of the entity is actually “Rivers State,” my instinct is to go with “Rivers state.” [/QUOTE] My instinct would be “the state of Rivers,” but “Rivers State.” The best I could find is that the University of Chicago Press itself capitalized “State” in [this synopsis of one of their books.](http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/12829.ctl) > [@](#): > > In this study of the Biase, a small ethnic group living in Nigeria’s Cross River State, David Uru Iyam attempts to resolve a long-standing controversy among development theorists…