# Should weapon names be in italics?



## Harbinger (Sep 12, 2012)

I know GRRM uses it for his names but I wasn't sure what the 'proper' format calls for.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Sep 12, 2012)

In my opinion this is a purely stylistic choice. Whatever works best for you. 

I probably would not but only because I tend to reserve italics for the few times I want to draw close attention to internalized thought.


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## Myshkin (Sep 12, 2012)

> In my opinion this is a purely stylistic choice. Whatever works best for you.



I agree with this.  Though one technique I've always liked is simply turning the name into a proper noun.  Capitalize it the same way you would a character's name.


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## Anders Ã„mting (Sep 12, 2012)

I say no. They are just names, like person names or city names or pet names. 

Really, _why _would they be in italics?


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## Ireth (Sep 12, 2012)

I would just capitalize them. Italics aren't necessary there. I would, however, italicize the name of a boat or ship, as it seems to be the norm.


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Sep 12, 2012)

Harbinger said:


> I know GRRM uses it for his names but I wasn't sure what the 'proper' format calls for.



No he doesn't. Ice and Longclaw (and all the others I could find) are written in plain text, not italics.


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## SeverinR (Sep 13, 2012)

Using Italics and Underlining

The rule on italics.

Names of vehicles yes, names of weapons...not seeing it in this rule.

Personally, I like seeing the rules when they are available.


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## psychotick (Sep 13, 2012)

Hi,

Like the others I'd say no. If a weapon has a name like Excaliber, it's just a proper name as far as I can see. And despite the rule quote above I wouldn't do it for ships either. I'd reserve Italics for particular seperate sections of text, for example showing what's printed on a page of another spell book or what have you. And even then if I had the MC actually reading it out loud it'd simply be in normal text as a line of speech.

Cheers, Greg.


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## thedarknessrising (Sep 13, 2012)

He swung _Cleaver_ in an arc over his head, destroying waves of goblins as they advanced.

He swung Cleaver in an arc over his head, destroying waves of goblins as they advanced.

I guess it all depends on your style, huh?


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Sep 13, 2012)

I think this is a rule that exists only because there's widespread agreement. I can't think of any logical reason why ship names should be italicized but weapon names shouldn't; it's probably just the way things developed, and so now it's "wrong" to italicize a weapon name simply because generally people don't italicize weapon names.


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## Jared (Sep 14, 2012)

Benjamin Clayborne said:


> I think this is a rule that exists only because there's widespread agreement. I can't think of any logical reason why ship names should be italicized but weapon names shouldn't;



Ships (and named vehicles more generally) are typically named after some understood reference (people, places, things). There's a difference between taking control of the Golden Hind and of the _Golden Hind_, or going to the Shenandoah and to the _Shenandoah_.

I don't know if that's _the_ reason, but it is a reason. Of course, it could have arisen out of a desire to visually distinguish the proper noun from the surrounding text (Google's not telling me when this norm developed), just like you put a book's name in all caps in a plain text query letter.



For the latter, it does open up the plausibility that in-world writings could do something different to visually separate out named swords in kept records.

So, to Harbinger, I would echo everyone else in saying that real-world rules say to just capitalize it, but don't be afraid of having your in-world documents do something different if swords are important enough that they'd want their names to stand out on paper.


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Sep 15, 2012)

Jared said:


> Ships (and named vehicles more generally) are typically named after some understood reference (people, places, things). There's a difference between taking control of the Golden Hind and of the _Golden Hind_, or going to the Shenandoah and to the _Shenandoah_.
> 
> I don't know if that's _the_ reason, but it is a reason. Of course, it could have arisen out of a desire to visually distinguish the proper noun from the surrounding text (Google's not telling me when this norm developed), just like you put a book's name in all caps in a plain text query letter.



Sure, but why would ship names need distinguishing and other names not? I honestly think it's more likely just an artifact of earlier English. Ship names got italicized (they were written about a lot); weapons were named very rarely and so nobody bothered.


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