more grammar questions

[tanithryudo]

There was a meeting between the President and the Joint Chiefs. - Should "President" as in "of the U.S." be capitalized?

"Now calm down there, son," said the general. - Should "son" be capitalized if it's one of those figures of speech and not actually the speaker's son? What about if the addressee is the speaker's son?

All of the victims were human, not Jaffa or Asgard. - Should "human" be capitalized? It's weird because you would expect other alien species/race references to get capitalized...

Comments

[tanithryudo.insanejournal.com]

Re: the species references...

Hm... well, "Jaffa" definitely seems to be a species reference. It's not a national or regional reference since they come from different planets and don't really have a single national identity even after the fall of their Goa'uld overlords. I guess I'm just too used to seeing it being capitalized in fics to visualize it any other way.

As for the Asgard (and Goa'uld), I guess it could be considered a national reference than species. The Vanir are a separate political entity from the Asgard but are the same species. The Tok'ra are a separate political entity from the Goa'uld but are the same species. So I guess they would be capitalized similar to Earth nations such as "British", "Danish", etc. Si?

[cashew.insanejournal.com]

If "Jaffa" is a species name, then it should not, according to English grammar, be capitalized. On the other hand, English grammar is disgustingly filled with exceptions and never had to deal with alien species, so maybe the in-universe explanation is that new rules were developed with dealing with this problem?

If Asgard is national reference, then it makes sense to capitalize.