Talk:Court of assistants

Capitalize "assistants"?

@Tony1: After a discussion with user Eebahgum on my talk page, it seems that "Assistants" is always capitalized in this usage. At least the 1964 version of SOED says so (though that's more than 50 years ago). Do newer versions of SOED say the same thing? I think a move of the article to "Court of Assistants" may be in order. Chris the speller ^yack 18:26, 30 October 2016 (UTC)

@Chris the speller:—What instantly decided it for me is the very first word: "A court of assistants" (or as it is now in the text, "A Court of Assistants"). One of several or one of many, therefore generic. Similarly, Oxford and Cambridge are two world-famous universities. Tony (talk) 13:02, 31 October 2016 (UTC)

However that is how the SOED does print it, and not as a quotation, and therefore not reproducing archaic capitalization: it is referring to the term as a proper name. One difficulty here is that the lower case form has a different shade of meaning. An 'assistant' in this context is merely one who assists. An 'Assistant' on the other hand is a member of an elected grade of official whose role is to conduct the governance of the organization. In the same way a 'master of his craft' might merely mean a person very skilled in workmanship, but a 'Master of his Craft' means, to any student of this subject, the annually elected senior member and governor of that particular Guild, who would be a wealthy and prominent political figure and often not, at that stage, involved in manual work. I could give many examples, but I think it should be sufficient to show how the term is used and printed by the Worshipful Livery Companies themselves on their own official websites. Capitalized forms for 'Master', 'Warden' and 'Court of Assistants' are routinely and correctly used, for example by the Worshipful Company of Mercers, the Worshipful Company of Bowyers, the Worshipful Company of Weavers, the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, and (I have little doubt) in all the rest. In every case the search term is 'Court of Assistants'. It is therefore correct in contemporary British English usage among those whom it concerns. Eebahgum (talk) 18:52, 31 October 2016 (UTC)

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