The earth v. Earth

[David A. Daniel]

OK. As you may gather from my email address I am willing to make a wager
from time to time when I figure the odds are in my favor. So, though I can't
cite specific research at this time, I figure the odds are in my favor as to
the following:

There is confusion about whether to capitalize Earth or not because there
are different meanings for the words Earth/earth. We live - and there is no
doubt in my mind (that is, I would bet on it) - on the planet Earth. Mars,
Mercury, Earth - same deal, all capitalized. But the planet Earth is covered
with... earth. As in: I spent the afternoon digging in the earth to unearth
the earthworms. Therein lies the confusion. I sincerely doubt that, on Mars,
you would dig in the mars to unmars the marsworms. But, on Mars, would you
dig in the earth? Dunno, but I intend to ask NASA and perhaps even an
academic source or two about this in the near future, and I shall be happy
to report my findings here. (BTW, the Moon is the name of the Earth's moon.
I would bet on that, too.)
DAD


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Benjamin Barrett
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 1:43 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: The earth v. Earth

I think Time magazine mentioned this in an editorial note about planet
capitalization around 15 years ago. (It was probably before they
downgraded their writing style for mass appeal since that's when I
stopped reading it.)

They said that they capitalized all the planets except earth because the
others are named for gods. I don't recall if there was a justification
for not capitalizing earth. BB

Wilson Gray wrote:
>
> >From Slashdot science:
>
> "[The asteroid] Apophis will pass closer to _earth_ than
> geosynchronous satellites orbit."
>
> I'm pretty sure - though I wouldn't bet money on it - that, back in
> the '40's and '50's - the earth was referred to as "_the_ earth." More
> recently, it seems to me, "the earth" has been replaced by "Earth."
> Here's an instance that's neither "the earth" nor "Earth." It could be
> a simple typo, however.
>

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