# Why is "I" capitalized, but not "me" or"my"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291 "2003-03-22T04:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/1 "2003-03-22T04:28:35Z")
Apologies if this has been asked before, but all the keywords are less than three letters. Why is the word “I” capitalized in English, but no other personal pronouns are? ---
**Author:** ![owlofcreamcheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@owlofcreamcheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlofcreamcheese)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/2 "2003-03-22T04:37:20Z")
I’d say because a lowercase letter is more likely to be sounded out while a single upper case letter is more likely to cause someone to say the name of the letter. so that people don’t read “i went to the store” as “iiii went to the store” but as “eye went to the store” that is so just a guess however ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/3 "2003-03-22T04:45:33Z")
WAG 1: “I” comes quite often at the beginning of sentences, so it is more often than not capitalized. Then, when it was used later in the sentence it looked weird as just “i”. So the rule that “I” be always capitalized came to be. WAG 2: “I” is treated as a proper noun (proper _pronoun_?), because it indicates a specific person. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/4 "2003-03-22T06:15:02Z")
[http://www.alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxwhyisi.html](http://www.alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxwhyisi.html) I can’t really follow their explanation too well, but it has something to do with making “I” a distinctive word to avoid misunderstandings. ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/5 "2003-03-22T06:35:25Z")
While"my" refers to something other than me being in a state of belonging to me, the word “me” could be regarded as a proper pronoun since it also refers to a specific person. “Me” still isn’t normally capitalized though, go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Arturas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@Arturas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arturas)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/6 "2003-03-22T07:31:54Z")
In Lithuanian, the word for I is not capitalised unless at the beginning of a sentence but you, both singular and plural are capitalised when addressing a specific person (unless you wish to demean him/her slightly). An indefinite you may or may not be capitalised, also depending on whether you wish to show respect. By the same token, I is usually written first in any pair, thus ‘I and you’ not ‘you and I’ like in English ---
**Author:** ![The\_MacDairmuid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_MacDairmuid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_MacDairmuid)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/7 "2003-03-22T09:25:54Z")
The singular pronoun “I” is capitalized because that is the rule. Come on people… this is English we’re talking about. You don’t have to understand why the rule exists; you simply have to follow it. ---
**Author:** ![elfje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19b73/32.png) [@elfje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfje)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/8 "2003-03-22T10:50:42Z")
[http://www.alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxwhyisi.html](http://www.alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxwhyisi.html) there you go. Hope this is satisfying enough. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/9 "2003-03-22T11:21:10Z")
**Arturas** ’ explanation mostly holds for German, as well. The capitalized “you” is written capitalized when whatever you’re writing is addressing the person reading (such as a letter); otherwise it’s lower-case. “Hast du das gesehen?” asked Bobby? Or: “Lieber Bobby, hast Du das gesehen?” It’s been a while since I’ve done anything German – the participle could be “gesieht” or something (sorry if I’m wrong). ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/10 "2003-03-22T15:19:41Z")
“ **I** _pron._ 1137 _i_; later _I_ (about 1250, in _The Story of Genesis and Exodus_);” That’s how the article in the _Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology_ begins. Barnhart is saying that this pronoun first appeared as a single letter in Middle English in the year 1137, when it was lowercase. Its first appearance as uppercase was in the year 1250. Barnhart goes on to explain the background of how it got to be that way: "developed from the unstressed form of Old English (about 725) _ic_ singular pronoun of the first person (nominative case). Modern and Middle English _I_ developed from earlier _i_ in the stressed position. **_I_ came to be written as a capital letter thereby making it a distinct word and avoiding misreading handwritten manuscripts.** In the northern and midland dialects of England the capitalized form _I_ appeared about 1250. In the south of England, where Old English _ic_ early shifted in pronunciation to _itch_ (by palatalization), the form _I_ did not become established until the 1700s (although it appears sporadically before that time). “Old English _ic_ corresponds to Old Frisian, Middle Dutch, and modern Dutch _ik_, Old High German _ih_ (modern German _ich_), Old Icelandic _ek_ (Danish _jeg_, Norwegian _eg/jeg_, Swedish _jag_), and Gothic _ik_, from Proto-Germanic \*_ekan_; and outside Germanic to Latin _ego_ I, Greek _egó_, Old Prussian _es_, Old Slavic _azu_, Armenian _es_, Avestan _azem_, Old Persian _adam_, Sanskrit _ahám_, Tocharian _ñuk_, and Hittite _uk_, from Indo-European \*_egom, egô_.” Taking it even further back from Proto-Indo-European, Vitaly Shevoroshkin has compared first-person pronouns from languages around the world and hypothesized a Proto-World form, which not only provided this pronoun in Indo-European but in many other languages as well. The hypothetical Proto-World form is \*_ **nga** _. Compare Tibetan _nga_, Burmese _nga_, Cantonese _ngo_, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan \*_nga_ (Ancient Chinese _nga_ has become _wo_ in modern Mandarin Chinese). Basically, there’s a nasal consonant like n combined with a velar like g or k. Only the velar g remained in Indo-European \*_egom_. Compare from Afro-Asiatic, Egyptian _’ink_, Hebrew _anoki_, Berber _nekk_ or _nki_, Somali _anigu_; only the nasal n remained in Arabic _ana_, Aramaic _ena_, Amharic _ené_. However, compare Albanian _unë_. Other examples include Sumerian _nga_, Zulu _ngi-_, Nivkh _ni_, Basque _ni-k_, Proto-Austronesian \*_aku_ (Malay _aku_, Javanese _aku_, Tagalog _ako_, Pohnpei _ngehi_, Maori _ahau_. In Austro-Asiatic, compare Mundari _aing_, Ho _nga_, Senoi _eng_, Khmer _yïng_. _Nga-_ is the first-person pronoun all across the Australian Aboriginal languages; there’s Rembarrngah _nga-, ngi-_, Warlpiri _ngaju_, and _ngayu_ in many other Aboriginal languages. In the Americas, compare Yupik Eskimo _uwanga_, Algonquian _ni_, Miskito _yang_, etc., etc… ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/11 "2003-03-22T15:24:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elfje \* > \*\*[AUE: FAQ excerpt: Why is "I" capitalized?](http://www.alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxwhyisi.html) > > there you go. > Hope this is satisfying enough. \*\* Alright, I’ll buy that explanation. But now explain why the article “a” _isn’t_ capitalized, except as the first word of a sentence. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/12 "2003-03-22T15:46:16Z")
Do note that “I” is not always captalized, as a matter of fact, it has several non capitalized uses, if you look for it in Websters. Interesting enough, the plural of ‘i’ is, ‘is’, according to Webby. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/13 "2003-03-23T20:56:40Z")
_i_ is uncapitalized only if your name is 1. archy the cockroach 2. e.e. cummings. at least that was true when i was in school. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-i-capitalized-but-not-me-or-my/163291/14 "2003-03-23T20:59:14Z")
Or 3. Ziggy.