Why Capitalize Every First Letter?

[Wigwam Jones]

Hi Wiggie, It's the proclivity to imitate W.F. Buckley that so many like to indulge themselves in to inordinately pat themselves on the back, if'n you catch my drift.:yes: Ok, Ok only little mangly but....

No, actually, I'm not sure what you mean. Care to take another run at it?

 

[mfhale]

meh. If I spent even a few seconds fretting about each and every capitalization, punctuation or word usage mistake I see, I'd have to be medicated.

 

[toxcrusadr]

I agree Wig, it's annoying. I also thought the cat was hilarious (along with all the other graphics). So, I will both support you and tell you to lighten up man! :tongue:

Having been called picky myself, I have learned that if others poke fun at my pickiness, I am better off if I laugh along with them. A good friend once called it owning the little idiosyncracies that others already know about us.

I guess I'm just Mr. Wishywashy, but it sure helps my blood pressure. :thmbsp:

 

[Brett a]

i think you aluded to it already Wigwam; that it's correct useage is in titles. (it's also known as "title case".

if I remember my grammar school english lessons, in titles, you capitalize all words except for conjunctions (?). such as are, with, and, to, the.

look at the upside, people are burning more calories with the extra key strokes.

 

[Wigwam Jones]

meh. If I spent even a few seconds fretting about each and every capitalization, punctuation or word usage mistake I see, I'd have to be medicated.

I don't recall saying that I did that. In fact, quite the opposite. I'm quite tolerant of bad spelling, poor grammar, and I try to understand that not everyone is a native speaker of English.

However, there are two problems when people cannot form English sentences on a forum that is intended to be read in English. First, it can be quite difficult to understand what it is they are saying. Second, at a certain point, it simply becomes incomprehensible gibberish.

And when a person can communicate more clearly if they wish to, but they choose not to for whatever reason, it's a bit more rude, in my opinion, than pointing it out to them.

It's like being around someone who has an objectionable body odor. There may be many reasons why it is beyond the person's control, so one shows restraint and tries not to mention it. However, if it turns out that the person simply can't be bothered to clean their bodies on a regular basis, then politeness is no longer required. It is they who are being rude, so mentioning that they stink is not only acceptable, it's probably a good idea.

 

[Wigwam Jones]

I agree Wig, it's annoying. I also thought the cat was hilarious (along with all the other graphics). So, I will both support you and tell you to lighten up man! :tongue:

Having been called picky myself, I have learned that if others poke fun at my pickiness, I am better off if I laugh along with them. A good friend once called it owning the little idiosyncracies that others already know about us.

I guess I'm just Mr. Wishywashy, but it sure helps my blood pressure. :thmbsp:

I am smiling. I know that others often don't think I am. I speak directly, and I guess that doesn't come across well when typing. Here is a smiley face.

 

[Wigwam Jones]

look at the upside, people are burning more calories with the extra key strokes.

That's actually what has me confused. I understand all caps or all lower case. Assuming the person actually knows how to capitalize, it's just laziness or something like that.

In the case of capitalizing every word in a sentence, it's extra work; it's not something done unintentionally or by accident or even through sheer laziness. So there seems to be intent. My question is, what is that intent? What is the point of doing it?

 

[toxcrusadr]

I am smiling. I know that others often don't think I am. I speak directly, and I guess that doesn't come across well when typing. Here is a smiley face.

Well OK then, I'll let you off this time. :arrow:

As for intent, I tend to assume people I don't know (i.e. Craigslist etc.) are just not that bright.

 

[luvvinvinyl]

My POS cellphone sends all text messages this way. I can find no setting to turn off this procedure.

I wonder if at least some of the offenders are posting from similarly-afflicted cellphones?

 

[Wigwam Jones]

My POS cellphone sends all text messages this way. I can find no setting to turn off this procedure.

I wonder if at least some of the offenders are posting from similarly-afflicted cellphones?

Now that is an interesting thought. It certainly could be. In at least one case on another forum, I'm pretty sure the guy who does it is doing it intentionally. He's been asked about a dozen times by all sorts of people to please quit posting that way, and all he ever responds with is "No, I Like To Write Like This." If he were the only one, I'd figure he was just a nutcase, but I have been seeing it pop up here and there recently. It would be very interesting if the issue just ended up being caused by the technology used to post.

 

[Tom Brennan]

This "grammar Nazi" crap comes from modern people wanting their laziness and ignorance to not only be tolerated but approved.

If you want to be a lout have a field day, I'll tolerate it, Hell, I have to tolerate it. But I won't approve of it and will a lout and consider what you have to say accordingly (if I even read it),

 

[Wigwam Jones]

Well OK then, I'll let you off this time. :arrow:

As for intent, I tend to assume people I don't know (i.e. Craigslist etc.) are just not that bright.

I fully believe that as well. It just seems that capitalizing every word in a sentence takes more effort than all caps or all lower case, so it seems intentional, like an affectation or something along those lines.

I certainly have had fun deciphering some of the gibberish that passes for English on CL listings; I wonder how they get through life in general. Not saying they are bad people, I'd probably like them as friends or relatives, but they seem utterly unable to phrase whatever it is they are trying to say and that's as much a handicap as missing a limb, IMHO.

 

[petehall347]

i never noticed but probably will now ..
i think its a phone thing myself .

 

[Brett a]

This "grammar Nazi" crap comes from modern people wanting their laziness and ignorance to not only be tolerated but approved.

If you want to be a lout have a field day, I'll tolerate it, Hell, I have to tolerate it. But I won't approve of it and will a lout and consider what you have to say accordingly (if I even read it),

That's pretty severe methinks.

Language, grammar, word usage and syntax are not fixed; they are always changing and evolving. If it weren't, we'd still be ufing "f"s infead of "S"s. Just like wee did in the days of olde.

 

[hjames]

It'd make more sense if the words were spelled right ... and no, I don't buy that it was a "parody" ... time and tine are diff, ya dig?

 

[Wigwam Jones]

Language, grammar, word usage and syntax are not fixed; they are always changing and evolving. If it weren't, we'd still be ufing "f"s infead of "S"s. Just like wee did in the days of olde.

They do evolve and change, you are absolutely correct. However, as constant as change, and as valid, is resistance to change. If everything changed too quickly, we would not be able to understand each other in fairly short order.

Resistance to the changes that languages go through keeps us all able to communicate with each other in terms of living generations. Once the duffers who said 'thee' and 'thou' are dead, then the resistance to change for those terms is gone also. Until then, geezers still have a valid right to complain.

 

[hjames]

That's actually what has me confused. I understand all caps or all lower case. Assuming the person actually knows how to capitalize, it's just laziness or something like that.

In the case of capitalizing every word in a sentence, it's extra work; it's not something done unintentionally or by accident or even through sheer laziness. So there seems to be intent. My question is, what is that intent? What is the point of doing it?

I'd guess its some kind of phone software setting ... sort of a default texting mode, perhaps - otherwise - why would someone go through all that longhand?

 

[sKiZo]

i didn't want to be the FIRST to point out that TIME is MISPELED in the poster. but what daHEY , eh.

 

[Wigwam Jones]

i didn't want to be the FIRST to point out that TIME is MISPELED in the poster. but what daHEY , eh.

That's an amusing point. I see a lot of 'demotivational' style graphics on Facebook these days. A lot of them are actually very clever and amusing. But just as often, the spelling is atrocious or the grammar is hideous, sometimes to the point where one has concentrate to even get the joke the author is trying to convey. I don't take such people to task, but I'm frankly not going to 'Like' and 'Share' such things; then I would look as idiotic as they look.

They're smart enough, and funny as well, and I appreciate their attempt; but if they can't be bothered to spell the words correctly on their own poster...sigh. I'm supposed to care what they create, but they don't care to spell-check their own creations. :scratch2:

Then there are the newspaper headlines that contain misspellings and poor grammar; they're becoming so common that it doesn't even annoy me anymore, it makes me sad for our future as a nation. A recent headline that was being passed around on Facebook was a newspaper that was unintentionally ironic when it announced that their editors were being laid off, and misspelled some words in the headline. Wow.

 

[usedto]

iF i dO thiS, wilL iT helP yoU sleeP betteR aT nighT?