When grammar rules send you to hell
Question: Should the word god be capitalized in the phrases god-forsaken or by god?Answer: The Chicago Manual of Style recommends that "like all proper nouns, the names of the one supreme God . . . as well as the names of other deities are capitalized."
"In the phrases you are asking about, however, the reference to God is rather casual, and there are those who would deny that such phrases refer to the one supreme God at all. Lowercasing God in such phrases is an attempt to obscure the reference to God."
"The problem, of course, is that such phrases are possible violations of the Third Commandment, which proscribes taking the name of the Lord in vain. The question before us is whether it is possible to fool God with capitalization tricks. The Grammar Hotline is not qualified to answer this question." (From North Carolina State University's Online Writing Lab.)
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