Q&A The Guardian style guide editors answer readers’ queries – first in a series. Mind Your Language blogposts attempting to answer some of them.

Big Society or big society?

Simon Hoggart rightly described this phrase as “surely the vaguest slogan ever coined by a political leader. Nobody knows what it means.” Until they do, keep it in quotation marks, at least the first time you mention it in a story, and always lowercase – so it’s “big society”.

So it’s “tea party” then?

If you’re talking about cucumber sandwiches, scones and a pot of Earl Grey. If, however, you are referring to the Tea Party movement, use initial caps. The reference is, of course, to the Boston Tea Party of 1773, which did involve tea (though not sandwiches and scones).

Due to or owing to?

If you can substitute “caused by”, due to is correct; if you can substitute “because of”, owing to is correct: The train’s late arrival was due to leaves on the line; the train was late owing to leaves on the line. This rule is so simple that it is astonishing how rarely people (including those who write in the Guardian) get it right.

Beyond the pale? Surely it should be beyond the pail (that’s what I was always taught)

I’m afraid your teachers were wrong. This pale is derived from the Latinpalus, a stake as used to support a fence (cf palisade); hence the figurative meaning of beyond the pale as being outside the boundary, unacceptable.

The pope, the Queen? They are both job titles, yet you capitalise the Queen but not the pope

There are lots of queens, and a risk of ambiguity (in a story about the Commonwealth, say) if we don’t cap up the Queen. That said, plenty of Guardian readers think we should call the Queen “the queen” for political reasons. There is only one pope, just as there is only one archbishop of Canterbury. Capital letters are about communication, not status.

I would like to request that you consider banning the use of “track record” (in favour of “record”). It drives me mad – it is lazy and cliched. I have got to the point where I stop reading an article if it’s used

Good idea, now incorporated into the style guide. Thank you.

A native of Luxembourg is a Luxembourger. In your sport section, cyclist Andy Schleck has been continually referred to as “the Luxembourgeois” and it’s bugging me. Why?

The sports department was following the style guide, which was wrong. It has now been corrected, with thanks to this reader.

Is “bouncebackability” a real word?

Yes, it’s an alternative to “the ability to bounce back” and is believed to have been coined by the football manager Iain Dowie. Thanks to @guardianstyle’s followers on Twitter, it has been translated into French(la rebondissabilité) and German (die Rücksprungsfähigkeit).

See: Guardian.co.uk