What is the proper way to capitalize the directions?
a) “I’m going South,” or “I’m going south.”?
b) “I live in the south,” or “I live in the South.”?
c) “I live in Eastern Missouri,” or “I live in eastern Missouri.”?
d) “Peoria is to the South and West of Chicago,” or “Peoria is to the south and west of Chicago”?
According to the Associated Press Stylebook:
“In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, etc., when they indicate compass direction, capitalize these words when they designate regions.”
“With names of nations: Lowercase unless they are part of a proper name or are used to designate a politically divided nation.” (for example, northern France, but Northern Ireland.)
“With states and cities: The preferred form is to lowercase compass points only when they describe a section of a state or city. . . but capitalize compass points when part of a proper name (North Dakota) [or] when used in denpoting widely known sections (Southern California). If in doubt, use lowercase.”
Don’t capitalize them unless they are part of a proper name such as South Dakota.
The correct wording is “Peoria is the cultural armpit of the United States.”
If man was meant to fly faster than the speed of sound he would have been born with 50,000 pounds of thrust.
Al is mostly correct, as we all know, “The South” is a proper name, whereas the north, well the north is where they keep Peoria.
“Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx
How did this thread get the number 000001.html?
I dunno, Pluto. Cincinnati could give it a run for the money.
If Peoria’s the armpit, that puts David B. somewhere near… uh… the crotch?
Obviously you haven’t had the opportunity to visit Minot, North Dakota (grudgingly capitalized). Stationed there from February of '71 to September of '72. Longest 5 years of my life.
JB
Lex Non Favet Delicatorum Votis
Yeah, when I was in the army at Ft. Meade, I knew a guy who had been an undertaker there.
The only capitalization situation regarding these compass-point words that had kept plaguing me was:
I’ll buy that. . .I guess because that’s the way I usually see it written in newspapers (no coincidence, I guess). I just couldn’t think how to word the rule to include this case. But I hope mr john will let me also refer to ‘Northern California’. (Might not be long before we can call it 'Alta California Norte. 
)