# Why Do We Capitalize The First Letter Of Words In Our Thread Titles?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-capitalize-the-first-letter-of-words-in-our-thread-titles/443513>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 1, 2008, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-capitalize-the-first-letter-of-words-in-our-thread-titles/443513 "2008-04-01T12:16:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-capitalize-the-first-letter-of-words-in-our-thread-titles/443513/21 "2008-04-02T04:09:01Z")

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[QUOTE=sandra\_nz]

Pendantic? Moi? 😛  
[/QUOTE]

I think it’s pedantic 😃

\</metajoke\>

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**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-capitalize-the-first-letter-of-words-in-our-thread-titles/443513/22 "2008-04-02T04:58:22Z")

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[QUOTE=Marley23]  
I thought people picked it up unconsciously from newspaper headlines.  
[/QUOTE]  
The convention for newspapers is to capitalize the first word in a title (and proper nouns). Though message boards are relatively new, the same convention is starting to set in. Whether it’s conscious or not, I can’t say, but the analogy makes sense. A thread title is to a message board as a news article is to a newspaper.  
[QUOTE=Marley23]  
Although I was once told by a copy editor that most newspapers capitalize only the first word in their headlines. Doing It the Other Way, he told me, is considered pretentious.  
[/QUOTE]  
I would say that almost _all_ newspaper capitalize only the first word. I can’t recall ever seeing it done the other way.

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**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-capitalize-the-first-letter-of-words-in-our-thread-titles/443513/23 "2008-04-02T05:49:37Z")

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Eh, I only capitalize the first word and any proper names in my titles, as well as the titles of TV shows, songs, books, etc. I guess I follow newspaper case, then. I don’t really pay attention to how other Dopers capitalize their titles.

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