# Nitpick on horsepower column

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-on-horsepower-column/313141>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [July 19, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-on-horsepower-column/313141 "2005-07-19T14:42:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-on-horsepower-column/313141/1 "2005-07-19T14:42:41Z")

</div>

[What’s the difference between horsepower and torque?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhorsepower.html)

Suffolk Punch, Clydesdale, and Shire should all be capitalized, as they are all proper nouns (breed names).

Sorry, it just grated on my spelling-nerve _and_ my horse-fancier nerve. 🙂

Thanks for the informative column!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-on-horsepower-column/313141/2 "2005-07-20T04:10:16Z")

</div>

Hm. They were capitalized originally. Something was changed in the report-\>edit-\>web process. Apologies.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-on-horsepower-column/313141/3 "2005-07-20T04:43:09Z")

</div>

> [@redtail23](#):
>
> Suffolk Punch, Clydesdale, and Shire should all be capitalized, as they are all proper nouns (breed names).

Not in my book they’re not. My book is the Chicago Manual of Style, 13th ed., which prefers down style (lower case) for names of plants and animals, capitalizing only proper nouns and adjectives. “Proper” here is understood to mean the name of a specific person or place. Thus English setter, not English Setter; similarly shire horse, not Shire Horse. Suffolk punch is knottier, since the term “punch” in this case appears to have no common meaning. However, having browsed the Web (capitalized because lower-case web in this context also has no common meaning), I find the following: “In England, a ‘punchy’ is a type of horse that is short-legged and barrel-bodied”–in short, “punch horse” may be construed as a generic term, and thus Suffolk punch horse is correct.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-on-horsepower-column/313141/4 "2005-07-20T05:02:22Z")

</div>

Ah. So now I apologize to Ed for making him correct me during the original editing. Can’t win at anything this week.