Though the apostrophe incident was a tad extreme, it was at least based on the correct principles of English grammar.

One of the new rules to come out in the “Style Guide” is to capitalise the names of seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

If I’d just written that on a blog covered by the new “Style Guide” I’d have been for the gallows. Fortunately, this is my blog.

Nowhere (yet) have I found an authoritative resource that says season names should be capitalised. Nowhere. When I find one, I’ll publish it. I like sticking up for the minority.

• Guardian newspaper Style Guide: see seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter all lc
• The Flinders University School of Humanities Style Guide: for days of the week, months, and special days of the year, but not for the seasons;
  
• The Owl at Pudue: The days of the week, the months of the year, and holidays (but not the seasons used generally)

The only time I can see that seasons are capitalised is when they form part of a title, like “The Spring 2006 Collection”.

So, for the sake of a little purity (not that my writing is amazing, but I try) I will now be avoiding using the seasons, so that I don’t have to conform to a misplaced rule.

I don’t mind being told when I have made grammatical mistakes when working on someone else’s site, but it would be nice if the dictators used the correct rule book.

I was reprimanded yesterday for using ‘ipodisation’ in an article I’d written about iPods continuing to dominate the world.

Apparently, according to the one who knows best, “It’s a horrible, fake word”

Granted, it’s not in the English dictionary, but I neither think it’s horrible nor fake. It encompasses a societal trend, and readers know what it means.

At least, they must do, because the Denver Post and Seattle Times, amongst others, have used it—and without quotation marks.