My dear head does not give me headaches. This is one of the reasons I literally love it and would not change it for anything in the universe or multiverse entire and beyond. Should I write, “my dear Head…” ?
Some people will say you capitalize for respect. You spell “the Queen’s English”, and you write “the Chairman”. Well, but then you’d have to assume respect about the Nazis and the Jihad, whoever knows the rationale for the “Queen’s English”: language does not belong with the royal interests, according to the official website:
Elizabeth II official website; click to enlarge.
“An animal lover since childhood, The Queen takes a keen and highly knowledgeable interest in horses. Other interests include walking in the countryside and working her Labradors, which were bred at Sandringham. A lesser known interest is Scottish country dancing.”
The official note is absolutely worth trust, as I most unfortunately had to experience during my 2,5 years stay in England, in environments by royalist services.
To return to thought, there is observable singularity in use of capital letters.
“The question as to whether there is such a thing as divine right of kings is not settled in this book. It was found too difficult. That the executive head of a nation should be a person of lofty character and extraordinary ability, was manifest and indisputable; that none but the Deity could select that head unerringly, was also manifest and indisputable; that the Deity ought to make that selection, then, was likewise manifest and indisputable; consequently, that He does make it, as claimed, was an unavoidable deduction. I mean, until the author of this book encountered the Pompadour, and Lady Castlemaine, and some other executive heads of that kind; these were found so difficult to work into the scheme, that it was judged better to take the other tack in this book (which must be issued this fall), and then go into training and settle the question in another book. It is, of course, a thing which ought to be settled, and I am not going to have anything particular to do next winter anyway.” 😉
Mark Twain had a wonderful sense of humor. 🙂
Heads ― whether of states, boards, or phrases and clauses ― their capitalization depends on relevance. The President would be the president in office. The Queen would be the current queen of a monarchy. We can write “the Flag” for “the American flag” (the British flag, the French flag, and other), provided we have enough reference in the context. We can write the American president or the English queen, about people in their offices, as then the focus is on the function with regard to the country.
Compared with the human body, country heads would show some potential for detachment. A person is in office, and then, another person is in the same office. This obviously is not the case with human bodily heads, where the potential for detachment is dramatically lower, regarding sustained function.
Therefore, it is my dear head not to give me headaches.
It has been also owing to this valor of my dear head that I may offer a public domain translation of Common Sense by Thomas Paine. Feel welcome. 🙂
