Example: http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=71801 Notice how much capitalization those guys use? Is every generic noun now a proper one?
its just a coincidence. in same retrospect, you cannot just judge black people with black skin that they are black, it's just not right.
Those are titles, not just nouns. Important archetypes in the bible. It's not a requirement to capitalize them, and not all of the posters do. But by capitalizing the word "Harlot," the writer makes it clear that he's talking about the archetype of the harlot, a mythical one-dimensional figure who is pure harlot and is devoid of any other character traits. Not a harlot the way a good novelist would build the character, with contradictions that make her seem real. And certainly not an actual real prostitute, who might be a law student who couldn't find any other way to pay her university fees. It's like the way we write about constellations. The Swan, the Whale: they're not real aquatic vertebrates. They're mythical figures, both greater and lesser than reality. People who write that way about the bible let us in on the secret, although perhaps unintentionally. It's not a real story, but it's not fiction either. It's all about the archetypes who live inside us, that collection of instinctive motifs and beliefs hard-wired into our synapses by evolution. If you don't like seeing a lot of capitalized nouns, don't ever study German. They capitalize every noun. Der Mann und die Frau kochen das Abendessen aus dem Kartoffel mit der Kinder in der Stube.
