Is “Mecca” capitalized when used figuratively?
Waleed made his pilgrimage to Mecca.
This is a given. But I would write:
Bombay is India’s entertainment mecca
Is this correct, or is Mecca capitalized in its figurative use, as well?
According to the Associated Press stylebook:
mecca. Lowercase in the metaphorical sense; capitalize (Mecca) the city in Saudi Arabia."
This would seem to be a common sense application of standard English capitalization rules (off the top of my head):
- Capitalize proper nouns: towns, people's names, cities in Saudi Arabia, etc.
- Do not capitalize other nouns. In this case, 'mecca' is a noun meaning 'a bustling, lively center of something' (apologies for my definition, made up on the fly)
The NOAD uses Mecca in both the cases.
Holland is a Mecca for jazz enthusiasts.
In the Corpus of Contemporary American, you find sentences with Mecca (where the word is used figuratively), and sentences with mecca.
The experience alarmed the city fathers of Appenzell, pop. 5,600, who worried that the town might become a Mecca for the unclad.
The United States has not begun to realize its potential as either an educational or a tourist Mecca.
Miami Beach has always been an international Mecca whose residents are as diverse as the tourists.
Frank Gehry's museum at Bilbao draws millions of people and has changed this industrial Spanish city into a mecca for tourism.
Writing groups are a mecca for aspiring authors and those who want to meet people with similar thought processes.
It should be capitalised.
Even when used as common nouns, proper nouns should retain their initial upper case.
For instance:
He lost his dreams of an Eldorado/El Dorado.
Just "eldorado" would really look weird.
Or:
He played the part of a Maecenas.
Only when the origin as a proper noun is forgotten is it common to find an initial lower case.
Passengers are lining up on the tarmac (Tarmac correct of course).
So
Bombay is India’s entertainment Mecca
Capitals in both cases, same as in Wendy house, brand names like Elastoplast etc