I noticed a while back that our English style guide does not have a clear indication of how to capitalize the two-word preposition “out of.” This has caused a bit of back-and-forth with regard to the Kansas song “Miracles out of Nowhere.” Guess Case normalizes the title to “Miracles Out of Nowhere” but this seems wrong since “out” is not being used as part of a phrasal verb (which, for those unaware, is why we have the exception clause in place for titles such as “Plug In Baby” or “Take On Me”). Has this ever been formally addressed? What’s the proper way to capitalize this title (and others like it)?
“Miracles Out of Nowhere” is clearly wrong—to the point of being difficult to read (makes you think “out” is a verb, not part of the “out of” preposition). Or maybe it’s a band name? Could be an album by the band Miracles Out from the town of Nowhere (it’s in Oklahoma).
Personally, I’d pick “Miracles out of Nowhere”; the alternative would be “Miracles Out Of Nowhere”. Why the former? It’s a preposition, after all. And I’m pretty sure the length thing must be because long ones like before, throughout, etc. in lowercase look weird in titles to a lot of people. “Out of” is indeed 5 (or 6 counting the space), but each word is less than three.
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