# Should president be capitalized when referring to the leader of the U.S.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2002, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-be-capitalized-when-referring-to-the-leader-of-the-u-s/126537 "2002-09-01T07:34:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-be-capitalized-when-referring-to-the-leader-of-the-u-s/126537/1 "2002-09-01T07:34:02Z")
Crap. Hampsters ate my OP. Here it is : I distinctly remember English teachers in grade school and on telling me that I was supposed to capitalize the word “president” when referring to the President of the U.S., but not when referring to, say, the president of a company. Is this rule still (or was it ever) valid? It seems like nowadays I see the word capitalized about as often as not. I see it in newspapers, magazines, and even here on the SDMB, where many people pride themselves on good grammar and spelling. I know the English language is constantly evolving. Was this an official change that I missed or did people just sort of forget about it? ---
**Author:** ![therealblaze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@therealblaze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/therealblaze)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-be-capitalized-when-referring-to-the-leader-of-the-u-s/126537/2 "2002-09-01T11:44:48Z")
If you are speaking of a specific person it is capitalized, doesn’t matter if the person is the president of a nation or a company. See [here](http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/local/doc/punctuation/node27.html): “In the first, the title the President is capitalized because it is a title referring to a specific person; in the second, there is no capital, because the word president does not refer to anyone in particular.” ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-be-capitalized-when-referring-to-the-leader-of-the-u-s/126537/3 "2002-09-01T13:12:22Z")
\ This is a style choice. Do it one way or the other, but be consistent within a document. \ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-be-capitalized-when-referring-to-the-leader-of-the-u-s/126537/4 "2002-09-01T18:49:53Z")
Scarlett is right, but the usual rule is you capitalise the title if it comes before the name, and use lower case if not. Thus: President George W. Bush George W. Bush, president of the United States This general rule applies to any title: Senator Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton, senator from New York Chairman Mao Tse-Tung Mao Tse-Tung, chairman of the Chinese Communist Party ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-be-capitalized-when-referring-to-the-leader-of-the-u-s/126537/5 "2002-09-01T19:30:00Z")
Thank you. Makes sense now.