It’s just a style thing…
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.
see. i blew it by capitalizing I a couple of times…
Oh well. That’s what happens when you change.
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.
Bill Walsh, a copy editor at The Washington Post covers this topic (and much more) here.
Bill covers similar topics with keen insight and humor in the Sharp Points section of his excellent website, The Slot
Pash
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)
Ok, ok. So she hugged a freakin’ Cow. Get over it allreddy.
Peace,
mangeorge
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.
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).
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.
Flash: The New York Times copy editor has spoken, and that new lawyers show? It’s girls club, all lower-case.