Today’s Editor’s Corner is borrowed from the Grammar Girl web site (quickanddirtytips.com). I was looking for something related to the 4th of July, but the grammar world comes up short on patriotic “rules and regulations.” Then I saw this sad news about Car Talk. While I lament that I won’t be getting weekly lessons on cars (while practicing my Boston accent), here’s the article on nicknames, just for kicks.
Are Nicknames Capitalized?
Tom and Ray Magliozzi just announced that in September they’ll stop producing new episodes for their popular NPR show Car Talk. Tom and Ray also go by Click and Clack.
Capitalize Nicknames
"Click" and "Clack" are capitalized because they’re nicknames—they take the place of a real name. You might say to your brother, “Boy, I’d sure like to meet Tom and Ray,” or you might say, “I’d sure like to meet Click and Clack.” The nicknames are essentially interchangeable with the real names.
Don’t Capitalize Terms of Endearment
Nicknames are different from terms of endearment, however. Terms of endearment aren’t capitalized. For example, let’s say you call your husband "honey." You might walk in the door and say “Honey, I’m home,” but you wouldn’t call your sister and say, “When I got home, honey was already making dinner. What a guy!”
A term of endearment isn’t interchangeable with a name the same way a nickname is, and terms of endearment aren’t capitalized.
Editor's Corner 
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