use of the word god

"G-d" is a choice made by many (but not all) observant Jews, particularly in the Orthodox and Conservative traditions. This link discusses the rationale.

In general, it is Standard Written English practice to capitalize the word "God" in phrases like "God damn it!" and not to capitalize the word "god" in phrases like "Mithras was the god of Roman soldiers."

The basic premise for this convention is the idea that most native speakers of English are referring to a specific monotheistic deity (even if they aren't believers) when they say things like "God damn it!" or "Oh, my God!" so the word is capitalized as a form of specific address. (Similarly, one would write, "Oh, Doctor! Can you recommend some other doctors to me?")

If you are referring to God in the Christian sense, always capitalize. While He is referred to by many titles, He doesn't have a name, therefore God should be treated as a proper noun.

If you are refering to non-Christan gods, they have names (such as Zeus) and god isn't a proper noun. Don't cap.

iwannabepublished said:

I hope this is the correct place to ask this question.

If a character says "what in god's name does that mean?" or "for god's sake, don't touch that!"

Should god always be capitalized?

I've also seen G-d used. Is this ever proper?

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Capitalization of god is a matter of personal preference. People will criticize you no matter what you do. The g_d thing is inane; it derives from the Jewish custom of not spelling out any ogf their words for gods; it might be reasonable to do if you followed that custom and had a god named "God".

If it's the Christian God, it should always be capitalized. This is correct grammar. Anything else is a political or personal belief, not good grammar.

Generally, I think it depends on whether the word "god" is being used as a name or simply a job title.

As JAR pointed out, the Christian deity would be referred to as God. Pretty much any other deity already has a name -- Zeus, Jupiter, Thor, Odin, etc., so "god" would be more of a descriptive term.

The name of the Christian go is Yahweh, Jehovah, or Eli, or El, or Elohim, so that god should be treated the same as any other god or goddess. The Idea that The Christian god gets special treatment is simply a matter of religious prejudice.

PeterL said:

The name of the Christian go is Yahweh, Jehovah, or Eli, or El, or Elohim, so that god should be treated the same as any other god or goddess. The Idea that The Christian god gets special treatment is simply a matter of religious prejudice.

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Or tradition.

It's not whether a god has a name, IMO. It's like Mom and Dad. They have names - Mom, Ma, Mother, or Patricia, Mary, Jane, whatever. But as a form of address, it's capitalized. As a noun, it's not.

I'm going to see Mother.
I'm going to see my mother.

I pray to God.
I pray to the gods of fate.

I have a harder time with the he/He problem.

For instance, say my doubting characters says "If God is real, he's a bastard."

Tradition is to capitalize "he", but since the character isn't a believer, that feels off to me. So I leave it lower case. I keep God capitalized because it's being used as a proper name.

Suppose she says, "If there is a god, he's a bastard."

Here, my character's attitudes will determine whether I capitalize God or not. If she's got doubts but still goes to church, then it's definitely God. If she's a committed atheist who resents religion, then it's definitely god. There are a whole lot of in betweens, and I don't think either choice is wrong.

Of course you're quite correct, Sarah.

But Peter continues on a zealous mission to convince all who know better that God cannot possibly be a name in anyone's belief system.

This sound and fury, signifying nothing (but an inane distraction) is soap-boxed ad nauseam each and every time the question is asked.

In this case, it's up to you, Ken. If you feel it should be, then it should be. it relies heavily on personal choice in this instance.

Oh for God's sake.

(Note the capitalisation).

If it's used as a name, God, capitalise it. If a noun describing that which is worshipped, a deity, then it's a god. Like chair or table or spoon. However, if someone was called Chair or Table or Spoon, you'd capitalise it.

Of course, there will be those who tell Christians how to address their god, but they will continue to call Him God, as is their right.

It's not a matter of personal choice or opinion if you want to use correct grammar and for God's sake, did I just agree with JAR?

Most people I know say Oh my God, or for God's sake, etc. But a lot of us aren't particularly Christian. And the super-duper-observant Christians aren't supposed to say that stuff unless they really really mean it anyway.

So I agree 100% that the distinction between a proper noun and a general noun is grammatical and not a matter of personal choice. If you are saying that Christianity also dictates certain grammatical rules, then that's fuzzy territory for those of us who take the Lord's name in vain without giving much thought to which Lord we're abusing.

To Ken: I've always liked goddammit, if you're willing to go slang

scarletpeaches said:

Of course, there will be those who tell Christians how to address their god, but they will continue to call Him God, as is their right.

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I think addressing him "Sir" is appropriate, but God is his name, isn't it?

To some, yes, but not to everyone.

omG, not this again!

It's enough to try the patience of a sAINT.

scarletpeaches said:

To some, yes, but not to everyone.

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Well, to Christians. I mean, Islam has Allah. Not sure what the Jewish god's name is. But the Christian god is God. I asked a couple, that's what they said. They even looked at me oddly, like what do you mean "what is God's name?"

Not all Christians call their god, God. To some it's Jehovah, others, Yahweh.

My point being, when you're describing a deity as a noun, for instance, "Which god do you believe in?" it's not capitalised.

When it's used as a name - as with any other name - you do capitalise it. "I pray to God every day."

It always works better with -dammit as a suffix, regardless of capitalization.

PeterL said:

The g_d thing is inane

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Most of English grammar & spelling is inane. It is inane that 'Mrs' has a dot after it in American English. It's inane that people like me use the word 'American' to mean 'USA-ian'. (It's inane that I can say 'American' or 'Australian' or 'British' but there isn't really an equivalent of "USA-ian") Yet it is part of the accepted method of communication.

Plenty of traditions and mythologies use a title or description for a character's name.

Look at Rider Haggard's "She" for example
Or 'Doctor' as the name of the main character in "Dr Who"
Or 'Donkey' in Shrek.

So why is it so unexpected that a particular story uses a description like 'god' as a name for the major character? It's a popular technique in many other story telling traditions - why should that particular one be exempt ?

It's interesting when that tradition is so pervasive in a certain culture that we end up having confusing conversations : "No - when I said 'the doctor' I didn't mean THE Doctor. I meant one of the other doctors".

Mac

Calling it 'inane' to refuse to spell out the name G-d (not the word 'god') insults, ooh...just about every devout Jew on this website.