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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 7/4/2019 7:11 AM, Rhona Fenwick
wrote:<br>
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<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:PS2P216MB0897B8338EB2497312FDC87CAAFA0@PS2P216MB0897.KORP216.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM">
<div>ghItlhpu' SuStel, jatlh:</div>
<div>> _Hu'rIn lu'uchmeH ghopDu'chaj lo' <i>orcs.</i><br>
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<div><br>
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<div>jIHvaD loQ jum; qatlh DIvI' Hol pab pol <i>orcs</i>? qatlh <i>orc</i>pu'
Dajun? (...'ach
<i>yrch</i> Dalo'nISbe'ba' :) )</div>
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<p>ghot pong 'oHmo' _Hu'rIn'e' 'ach Segh 'oHmo' <i>orc</i>'e'.</p>
<p>At some point you have to decide what exactly a proper noun is.
The word <i>human</i> is, for example, a common noun, but the
word <i>Klingon</i> is a proper noun. Sometimes people writing
about Star Trek try to correct this by capitalizing <i>Human</i>
as well.</p>
<p>Tolkien's capitalization for elves, orcs, dwarves, and so on
changes depending on which book you're looking at. He never
capitalizes <i>troll,</i> however. His choice to treat some
"species" as proper nouns in some books is a personal convention,
and it need not be followed at all times.</p>
<p>There's an old role-playing game called <i>Star Frontiers</i> in
which the various intelligent race-names are all capitalized, and
so they capitalize <i>Human</i> as well. I always take it the
other way, figuring that if <i>human</i> is a common noun to
humans, then <i>yazirian</i> is a common noun to yazirians, <i>dralasite</i>
is a common noun to dralasites, and <i>vrusk</i> is a common noun
to <i>vrusk.</i> I adopt a narrower definition of what
constitutes a proper noun.</p>
<p>So I made a choice: <i>orc</i> is a common noun, not a proper
noun, just as I'll treat <b>tlhIngan, romuluSngan,</b> and <b>tera'ngan</b>
as common nouns. It's just a personal convention. Given that we're
talking about personal conventions to mark proper nouns, I figure
I'm entitled. :)<br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
SuStel
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://trimboli.name">http://trimboli.name</a></pre>
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