Let's learn another English quirk: capitonyms I (related to geography)

 Hiya everyone!

I know I have tucked away my blog a little bit, but I've been super busy. Worry not, for the first post in 2022 is really interesting, or, at least, I find it fascinating. It's an English quirk, but it's not English exclusive, as it happens in many other languages. I'm talking about capitonyms.

And what are capitonyms? They are words whose meaning changes if the first letter is capitalised. This post will consist of three parts: capitonyms related to geography; capitonyms related to people's names and other capitonyms.

Capitonyms related to geography: cities, countries, towns, nationalities...

• China vs china

In capital letters, China refers to a country. However, lower-case china refers to a material. Do you know the expression 'to be like a bull in a china shop'?

• Turkey vs turkey

https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/turkeys-vs-turkey/ 

This is by far one of my favourites capitonyms ever! The word with capital letter refers to the country whose capital is Ankara, while the word with the small t depicts the widely-known animal that Americans slaughter in Nomverber...and December!

• Chile vs chile

Let's continue with some capitonyms of food and countries. 'Chile' is a country in South-America, whereas 'chile' is a very spicy pepper.

• Jersey vs jersey

The former may sound familiar to you as an island located between the UK and France, or a state (New Jersey) in the US. The latter, however, refers to a clothing item (often referred to as 'jumper').  

• Sandwich vs sandwich

I suppose the first one that comes to your mind is the word in lower-case letters...Who has never eaten a sandwich, for God's sake? In fact, the world-famous sandwich is named after the count of Sandwich, a small town in England. The modern use of sandwich is an eponym coming from the count of Sandwich and is also a toponym deriving from the town with the same name. Interesting, isn't it?

• States vs states

The word 'states' with the lower 's' refers to any country; or may be a synonym of 'fact'; or, as a verb 'to report' or 'rule'. However, the word with the big 's' refers to a specfic country, no other than the US and is normally preceeded by the article: 'last year I went to the States'

• Polish vs polish

This is a very interesting pair of capitonyms, because they are also homographs, that is, written the same but pronounced differently according to their meaning.

The first one [‘pəʊlɪʃ] is the nationality and language of Poland, when the second one: [‘pɒlɪʃ] is to make something more smooth, that is, to burnish.

• German vs german

The first word is obviously the nationality, but the second is not as common. It refers to family: people having the same parents or grandparents either on the maternal or paternal side. 

• Dutch vs dutch

The first one is the nationality and language of the people coming from the Netherlands. The second one is the slang term for wife in Cockney English. The word 'dutch' also appears in the expression: 'go dutch', which means that on a date, for example, each person will cover for their own expenses. 

• Scotch vs scotch

The big Scotch refers to 'Scot', people coming from Scotland. The small scotch refers to the adhesive tape, but as a verb, it has other meanings, to hinder or thwart. 

Well, I suppose by now you will all have understood what capitonyms are. Next post will delve into capitonyms related to people's names. I hope you like it!