# Katana/katana **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 10, 2004, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katana-katana/228439 "2004-02-10T13:34:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Glitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/0ea827/32.png) [@Glitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glitch)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katana-katana/228439/1 "2004-02-10T13:34:45Z")
I’ve noticed that many people tend to capitalize words like katana, tonfa & nunchaku. It happens all the time when people are writting my written exams. They never capitalize sword, knife or club. Is there a deep psychological reason why? I’m guessing it has something to do with it being a foreign language, but anybody know exactly what causes that behaviour. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katana-katana/228439/2 "2004-02-10T15:18:41Z")
Just garden variety ignorance as they don’t know they should just italicize words like _katana_. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katana-katana/228439/3 "2004-02-10T20:08:58Z")
Just speculation, but it could be that the folks doing this find those words to be Exotic. Or maybe they’re just being Pretentious. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katana-katana/228439/4 "2004-02-10T20:18:36Z")
I think the exotic bit rings true, for me at least. I know I’ve been guilty of doing just that on occasion. Usually I do it for emphasis, but I know it’s wrong, I’m a bad boy ☹ ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katana-katana/228439/5 "2004-02-10T21:38:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Just garden variety ignorance as they don’t know they should just italicize words like katana. No, they don’t need to. Its a perfectly anglicized word. There’s no need to italicize or capitalize it, any more than you would for data, schadenfreude, or sushi. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katana-katana/228439/6 "2004-02-10T22:17:52Z")
…or verada nikto? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katana-katana/228439/7 "2004-02-10T22:46:41Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > No, they don’t need to. Its a perfectly anglicized word. There’s no need to italicize or capitalize it, any more than you would for data, schadenfreude, or sushi. I’ll accept that but where is the cutoff for words from a non-latin alphabet? Kantana isn’t exactly an everyday word as is sushi and data. I think the same is true of schadenfreude. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katana-katana/228439/8 "2004-02-12T14:29:08Z")
There is no bright line. But I won’t italicize any word (well, I would italicize any word cause it was foreign unless I was writing formally, anyway) if my listeners should know what it is. I’d say that enough samurai movies have been shown that people know what it is.