Transcript of “A Capital Mistake”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, Grant and Martha. This is Jonah calling from Baltimore, Maryland.
Hi, Jonah.
Hey, Jonah.
I’m a private music teacher, and as one of my 10-year-olds was packing up after our lesson,
We somehow got to chatting about states we visited.
So I asked him if he knew his state capitals.
And he’s a real confident kid, so he emphatically said,
Of course I do.
So I said, okay, so do you know the capital of Maryland?
And without missing a beat, he shouted, MD, which I laughed.
I laughed and I said, no, I’m in the capital city.
And then he just looked at me confused and went, oh, no, I don’t know those.
That’s so cute.
So he used the initials, the capital letters.
Yeah, he used the capital letters.
And, you know, I guess it’s an honest mistake.
Sure.
And when it comes to different uses of the capital, the word capital ending A-L, I guess he was justified in answering the question that way.
He just chose a different sense of the homonym.
But then I got to wondering about the two different spellings of capital ending A-L and O-L, which they’re obviously two related words but with divergent spellings.
Yes.
Specifically, I was wondering, you know, if you could clarify how we ended up with those two words and why when we refer to capital city, it’s not spelled with an O since that’s where the Capitol building is situated.
Right, exactly.
Yeah, you’ve zeroed in on the big difference that confuses a lot of people because, as you suggested, you only use the O for the Capitol building, whether it’s the U.S. Capitol building where Congress meets in Washington or, in your case, the state house in Annapolis.
That’s the Capitol, C-A-P-I-T-O-L, where the legislators meet.
But it’s in the capital city, A-L.
And a lot of people have trouble remembering which is which, but the trick I use is either to picture the round dome of the capital, which sort of looks like an O, or you can think about the letter O standing for only one, that one instance of when you use the OL in the case of the building, and all the other uses of capital are AL.
And you’re right that there may be a connection between the two.
The A-L capital, which we use for a lot more ideas, like the main thing or a capital letter,
It goes back to the Latin caput, which means pertaining to the head.
And so you get all kinds of meanings coming out of that kind of capital, like great or capital in money, as a matter of fact, like venture capital.
That’s originally from Latin pars capitalis, the first part of a loan that’s not the interest.
And then the meaning expanded.
The OL version, capital, goes back to ancient Rome where the great temple of Jupiter,
Which was this magnificent temple in Rome, was located on the Capitoline Hill.
And there’s a story in antiquity that is probably apocryphal about them starting to dig the foundation for this temple.
And they found a head when they were digging.
And it was belonging to somebody named Tolias or something like that.
But that’s probably just an etymological myth.
But basically, they go back to the Capitoline Hill, which was with an O, and then caput, meaning head, for all those other terms.
Okay.
So, Jonah, I’m going to repeat that story from your student.
I think that’s hilarious.
That’s a great one.
Yeah.
MD.
MD.
It was really good.
Thank you for the call.
Good luck with the students.
Yeah, thanks for taking my call.
All right.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
Thanks, Jonah.
All right.
Bye-bye.
