Jess A
Archmage
Yes perhaps it is a matter of choice for Robin Hobb. She does have characters referring to a character in the way you mention: "Come here, fitz!" That later becomes his name (hence capitalised), but at the start, it is other people referring to him as a bastard, a 'fitz', similar to "Come here, boy!"
There will always be confusion in some areas of grammar and always something to learn. It is an interesting topic nonetheless. Proper nouns make perfect sense to me with regards to place names and in most cases, titles and forms of address. It is just inconsistency which has confused me. I don't want to drown my works with too many capitals if not necessary, but I have always favoured using capitals for 'Prince' and 'Duke' and 'King' as it sounds correct to me.
There will always be confusion in some areas of grammar and always something to learn. It is an interesting topic nonetheless. Proper nouns make perfect sense to me with regards to place names and in most cases, titles and forms of address. It is just inconsistency which has confused me. I don't want to drown my works with too many capitals if not necessary, but I have always favoured using capitals for 'Prince' and 'Duke' and 'King' as it sounds correct to me.