I see you ve opted out of discussing the silentness of your revert Anyhow it s not awkward wording That s how it s done in professional periodicals without font formatting and whether we call it special or not WP CAPTION calls it special BTW it s unnecessary Per WP CAPFRAG The text of captions should not be specially formatted with italics for example except in ways that would apply if it occurred in the main text We wouldn t use small fonts in the main text a la Itchy the mouse and Scratchy the cat The guideline also says that the caption should be succinct and not state the obvious top the mouse is redundant and and states the obvious So unless you have an argument that adheres to an established guideline my pitch is some more succinct alternative like Itchy mouse and Scratchy cat or Itchy left and Scratchy right or Itchy top and Scratchy no bottom And if parentheses aren t your thing I m fine with commas