Even after eight years living in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, I still can’t get used to das Baby and das Kind. If you want to refer to a child in German, you call him or her “it.”
And I have fought a one-man guerilla war for Power Capitalization, sometimes engaging even in hand-to-hand combat with my editors. It's part of my comedy style, for all the technical reasons you point out. I just have to fight the AP Stylebook on it.
There is a difference between capitalizing the first letter of key words and just hitting the caps lock before typing the way Trump does. I think Trump does it because he is a narcissist and thinks everything he types should be emphasized because he is the one typing them.
"WHEN, in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's GOD entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the Causes which impel them to the Separation."
When we make up a title for the Grammar Pedant in Chief, we aren't doing power capitalization. We are writing Galactic Emperor Palpatine correctly.
Very Serious Political Analysis is power capitalization, as is "It Is Known." But a good deal of the examples are examples of correctly capitalizing something that is made up, like anatomically describing a unicorn.
I'm a grammar scold, but "improper capitalization" sits right up there with "fake TM sign" and "struck out words" as one of the most useful comedy tools. Also, this essay was fingerblastin' good.
I drink a lot of Diet Coke so I get where you're coming from.
Still, you can Power Capitalize well, or you can do it shittily, and Trump does it shittily. His caps are random and I think driven by actual grammatical confusion.
Makes sense to me. At some point last year I started doing the inverse and mostly stopped capitalizing trump, because fuck that guy. In terms of real world effects he's more of a disease on the country than a proper noun. It seems silly to extend any respect to someone who so gleefully withholds it from everyone else.
The difference between your capitalizations and Trump’s is that yours are intentionally funny, while his are unintentionally funny.
I don't blame Trump for having a comedian's instincts, but I wish I could shake the feeling that the joke is on us.
COTD
Dude, did you get repeatedly beaten by a copy of Strunk & White as a child? You’re vigorously defending… the totally defensible. What brought this on?
All the people behind the scenes beating him with copies of that book?
You should learn German … every noun is capitalized i.e. das Fingerblast.
Isn't it der Fingerblast?!?!?
;)
Gender can be super tricky ... the word for woman is feminine but the word for girl is neuter!
Even after eight years living in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, I still can’t get used to das Baby and das Kind. If you want to refer to a child in German, you call him or her “it.”
DAS Mädchen! Ja, ja!!
I was waiting for the footnote that said "not you though, you are one of the good ones" and I was not disappointed.
Unlike you, I have editors to deal with.
And I have fought a one-man guerilla war for Power Capitalization, sometimes engaging even in hand-to-hand combat with my editors. It's part of my comedy style, for all the technical reasons you point out. I just have to fight the AP Stylebook on it.
Language and it's rules are a fluid, slowly meandering boat
on a river guided by people and their quirks, the most fluid of style keepers.
Change is a slow constant.
Do we all emote like the Founding Fathers? Thankfully no! Hellos and goodbyes would take too long.
And don't get me started on their use of commas.....
There is a difference between capitalizing the first letter of key words and just hitting the caps lock before typing the way Trump does. I think Trump does it because he is a narcissist and thinks everything he types should be emphasized because he is the one typing them.
Or, this little known sentence:
"WHEN, in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's GOD entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the Causes which impel them to the Separation."
These are not all the same thing.
When we make up a title for the Grammar Pedant in Chief, we aren't doing power capitalization. We are writing Galactic Emperor Palpatine correctly.
Very Serious Political Analysis is power capitalization, as is "It Is Known." But a good deal of the examples are examples of correctly capitalizing something that is made up, like anatomically describing a unicorn.
Indeed. It doesn't need to be real to be a proper noun.
I'm a grammar scold, but "improper capitalization" sits right up there with "fake TM sign" and "struck out words" as one of the most useful comedy tools. Also, this essay was fingerblastin' good.
I am an editor who regularly tears her hair out over capitalization errors.
But you, Jeff, get the Editor-Approved Comedy Capitalization Waiver.
I drink a lot of Diet Coke so I get where you're coming from.
Still, you can Power Capitalize well, or you can do it shittily, and Trump does it shittily. His caps are random and I think driven by actual grammatical confusion.
Makes sense to me. At some point last year I started doing the inverse and mostly stopped capitalizing trump, because fuck that guy. In terms of real world effects he's more of a disease on the country than a proper noun. It seems silly to extend any respect to someone who so gleefully withholds it from everyone else.
When you power-capitalize I usually don't even notice since, unlike with Trump, it's always clear why you're doing it.
Thank you for pointing out that "I,"
of course, am NOT, of pne of the amoeba people.....
Well, to be the dork in the room Nicea was really abound capitalization. Was Jesus a god or God.
I will leave now, hold your applause