Recently, I watched Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The main topic for most of the audience was Mount Everest, but the main topic for me was a new word he introduced when talking about Sherpas, a Tibetan people, and sherpas (lowercase “s”) the people that help mountain climbers on their treks up the mountain. Oliver said Sherpa was a capitonym: a word that changes its meaning when capitalized.
Here are some other capitonyms I found. For a more complete list, click here.
| Capitalized | Lowercase |
| Alpine: of or related to the Alps | alpine: (adj.) relating to high mountains; living or growing in high mountains; (n.) an alpine plant |
| Arabic: of or relating to the Arabic language or Arabic literature | arabic: (gum) arabic, also called gum acacia, a food ingredient, arabic numbers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) |
| August: the eighth month of the year | august: majestic or venerable |
| Cancer: 1. a constellation and astrological sign. 2. a genus of crab. | cancer: a class of diseases. |
| Catholic: relating to the Catholic Church (usually the Roman Catholic Church) (adj.); a member of that church (noun) | catholic: free of provincial prejudices or attachments; universal |
| Earth: a planet | earth: the dry land of this planet |
| Ionic: relating to Ionia or to a style of classical architecture | ionic: relating to (chemical) ions |
| Italic: of, or relating to Italy | italic: pertaining to a sloping typeface or font |
| March: the third month of the year | march: to walk briskly and rhythmically |
| Marine: member of the United States Marine Corps | marine: something produced by the sea |
| May: the fifth month of the year | may: modal verb |
| Mercury: a planet; the messenger god of the Romans | mercury: chemical element number 80 (symbol Hg) |
| Mosaic: pertaining to Moses | mosaic: a kind of decoration |
| Nice: a location in France | nice: pleasant |
| Pole: a Polish person | pole: a long thin cylindrical object; various other meanings |
| Reading: the county town of Berkshire, England, or any one of 17 populated areas in the United States named after it | reading: gerund or present participle of the verb to read, meaning to decode text or other signals. |
| Scot: a native of Scotland | scot: a payment, charge, assessment, or tax |
| Scotch: from or relating to Scotland, or a form of whiskey | scotch: to put an end to (especially rumors) |
| Turkey: a country in the Middle East | turkey: a bird, often raised for food |
| Western: relating to European culture | western: of the west or relating to western films or television programs |
Courtesy of John Oliver’s Everest Photo Page
Kara Church
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