Walking like a big man now

I won a grammar fight today.

I was explaining that titles, when used as a standalone, are not capitalized. My opponent was falling into the common error of asserting that they are uppercase when they are used in reference to a specific person.

Incorrect: I believe the Congressman has taken an extreme position.

Correct: I believe the congressman has taken an extreme position.

Correct: I believe that Congressman Robert Smith has taken an extreme position.

It is a common error, but still an error. I believe it would be correct in German, but we don’t speak German.

(Ironically, I noticed the error but said I wasn’t going to insist on correcting it; and then after finding the Modern Language Association was on my side, she went and fixed it.)

Haven’t had a grammar argument like that since my time at the newspaper. She even pulled out the MLA stylebook to show me that I was wrong, only to concede the point to me.