# Can you really uncapitalize your name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2002, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-uncapitalize-your-name/119729 "2002-07-19T01:14:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-uncapitalize-your-name/119729/41 "2002-07-20T04:33:26Z")
It’s just a style thing… ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-uncapitalize-your-name/119729/42 "2002-07-20T06:47:42Z")
in high school, a teacher was upset that i didn’t capitalize the word god in a paper I wrote. she said, if i capitalize my name, i could certainly capitalize that as well. i stopped capitalizing my name that very day. i also stopped capitalizing every word I ever wrote - all the way through college. only once did a teacher ask me to prove i knew when to capitalize and made me take a test. i passed his test. didn’t seem to bother anybody else. i still do not capitalize my signature on all legal documents, including passport and drivers licence. but i do capitalize in most correspondence since then - unless i am writing for myself. this is actually the first post i have ever written in small case, and probably the last. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-uncapitalize-your-name/119729/43 "2002-07-20T06:50:13Z")
see. i blew it by capitalizing I a couple of times… Oh well. That’s what happens when you change. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-uncapitalize-your-name/119729/44 "2002-07-20T12:24:47Z")
When I get home, I really must check what Globe style is - I recall they specifically mention the TV program _the 5th estate_, but I don’t remember their ruling as to initial capitalization. ---
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-uncapitalize-your-name/119729/45 "2002-07-20T18:45:28Z")
Bill Walsh, a copy editor at _The Washington Post_ covers this topic (and much more) [here](http://www.theslot.com/caps.html). > [@](#): > > Corporate identities and faux acronyms confuse a lot of journalists. Your credit card may say VISA, your athletic shoes may say NIKE or adidas, but this is just because the companies chose an all-caps or all-lowercase presentation for the brand names. That doesn’t mean you write the words that way, any more than you would write WEBSTER’S NEW UNIVERSAL UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY just because that’s what it says on the spine. (And why in the world does everybody bend over backward to write “thirtysomething” without a capital T? Nobody writes “DRAGNET” or “THREE’S COMPANY,” though that was how the titles were written in those shows’ opening credits.) Bill covers similar topics with keen insight and humor in the **Sharp Points** section of his excellent website, [The Slot](http://www.theslot.com) Pash ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-uncapitalize-your-name/119729/46 "2002-07-20T20:09:40Z")
I think the whole capitalization thing is just another pretentious fad. Obviously, usernames etc don’t count in that, but people like k.d. lang are just doing it to be different. As for tv shows and names of bands, I don’t find it as lame. (insert e e cummings quote here) ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-uncapitalize-your-name/119729/47 "2002-07-20T20:20:05Z")
Ok, ok. So she hugged a freakin’ Cow. Get over it allreddy. 😃 Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-uncapitalize-your-name/119729/48 "2002-07-20T20:41:39Z")
ms. is an abbreviation of mistress. mr. is an abbreviation of mister. mrs. is an abbreviation of mistress. miss is an abbreviation of mistress. miss manners page 10 guide for the turn-of-the-millennium. ---
**Author:** ![Tsubaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Tsubaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tsubaki)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-uncapitalize-your-name/119729/49 "2002-07-20T23:30:09Z")
Abbreviations…I was always taught that you only put a fullstop (period) after an abbreviation if the last letter of the abbreviation ISN’T the last letter of the word. Hence Mr Mrs Miss Ms BUT Aust. (for Australia, if you choose to abbreviate it). U.S.A. eg. etc. (If there are any qualified English teachers out there, please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. But if I’m wrong, then so is every English teacher I’ve had in Australia). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-uncapitalize-your-name/119729/50 "2002-07-21T02:38:21Z")
The abbreviation for the Latin phrase _exempli gratia_ gets a period after each letter: _e.g._ As for titles, in countries of the British Commonwealth, _Mr_, _Mrs_, and _Ms_ do not have periods. In the United States, they are always spelled _Mr._, _Mrs._, and _Ms._, with periods. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-uncapitalize-your-name/119729/51 "2002-07-24T06:12:39Z")
Flash: _The New York Times_ copy editor has spoken, and that new lawyers show? It’s **girls club** , all lower-case. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-uncapitalize-your-name/119729.md?page=2)