Capitalisation of I

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by Miss Chicken, May 13, 2013.

  1. Sam_I_Am

    Sam_I_Am Captain Captain

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    I always thought I put the tittles (the word for the dots!) but when I looked back over my writing I hardly ever do. I write in cursive so it looks like I just get to the end of the word and keep going. It makes sense because I principally write in lectures when I have to keep up my lecturer.
     
  2. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    well an undotted i could be mistaken for a l (L).
     
  3. Alidar Jarok

    Alidar Jarok Everything in moderation but moderation Moderator

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    Interestingly, it is not uncommon to capitalize you formal in Italian (Lei). I think the reason is that "lei" is also she, so it is done to distinguish the two.

    If I'm not mistaken, Usted (Spanish you formal) is also capitalized, but I could be wrong. It might only be capitalized when abbreviated (Ud. for usted, Uds. for ustedes).
     
  4. scotpens

    scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

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    Heh-heh . . . tittles . . . heh-heh-heh . . .

    [​IMG]

    That's how I learned it in high school. The formal pronoun usted is not capitalized when spelled out, but the abbreviation Ud. is capitalized.
     
  5. Alidar Jarok

    Alidar Jarok Everything in moderation but moderation Moderator

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    OK, I couldn't remember to be sure. Now watch someone correct my Italian as well ;)
     
  6. iguana_tonante

    iguana_tonante Admiral Admiral

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    Ask and you shall receive. ;)

    I don't think that confusion with "lei" (she) is the main reason (even if it's a possibility). In fact, in formal letters also Voi (plural you) and Vostro/a/i/e (plural your) are capitalized.

    Nobody would ever think of capitalize "io" (I). It would be seen as the epitome of narcissism. :lol:
     
  7. Count Zero

    Count Zero No nation but procrastination Moderator

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    Yes, they're pronounced differently. Turkish has plenty of diacritical marks that unfortunately are often discarded outside of Turkey and the Turkish communities, leaving you guessing at the correct pronunciation of stuff. It's one of my personal pet peeves with news papers, magazines and sites, also regarding Czech.
     
  8. scotpens

    scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

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    The Vietnamese language, as written in the Latin alphabet, has more diacritical marks than I've seen in any other language. Apparently Vietnamese pronunciation and orthography are very complicated.
     
  9. Kommander

    Kommander Commodore Commodore

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    The personal pronoun I is capitalized to differentiate from the math symbol i.[citation needed]

    Back when the Rules of Etiquette were established, it was considered socially unacceptable to refer to oneself as being a number or imaginary, rude to refer to oneself as the square root of anything, and extremely rude to refer to oneself as the square root of a negative number. Also, people were offended by math in general back then.
     
  10. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    Math can be pretty douchey sometimes.
     
  11. propita

    propita Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I'm kinda jealous of the writing samples here. I rarely used cursive, but my printing was excellent due to an old-style drafting class. Which also gave me the tendency to write in small caps--imagine that. But, over time, my printing lapsed, to the point that I had a hard time reading my own printing.

    As for my signature, it's basically "First letter of first name, scribble, space, First letter of last name, scribble." I'm ashamed of it.
     
  12. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Speaking of numbers, I is number one, the way the Romans wrote it. ;)
     
  13. Kommander

    Kommander Commodore Commodore

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    ^ While it is commonly believed that Roman Numerals were created by the Romans back in Bible Times, they were actually invented in 1934 for use in dating films. The stencils used to create the credits at the end of movies did not contain numbers because of a patient issue. Roman Numerals were created to circumvent this. This was almost a century after the Rules of Etiquette were created so didn't apply at the time.
     
  14. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Some may disagree...
     
  15. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Citation, please. :rolleyes:
     
  16. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Ancient Roman graffiti:

    FOR A GOOD TIME CALL XIVIVIIIXXLDC
     
  17. Miss Chicken

    Miss Chicken Little three legged cat with attitude Admiral

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    The foundation stone for the Penitentiary Chapel in Hobart says Anno Domini M.DCCCXXXI (1831) and the Chapel's clock has Roman numerals and was built in 1828 by Thwaites and Reed of Clerkenwell, London (it was one of 4 clocks in a single order that authorities in Tasmania bought from Thwaites and Reed).
     
  18. Kommander

    Kommander Commodore Commodore

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    Well, they are free to do so.

    There are only so many times I can type [citation needed] in a thread before it stops being funny. However, it is totally funny the first few times.[citation needed]

    Any appearance of Roman numerals before 1934 is the result of time travel.
     
  19. Miss Chicken

    Miss Chicken Little three legged cat with attitude Admiral

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    OK, you are not serious. It is sometimes hard to tell on this board (or on the internet in general).
     
  20. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Gotya.

    Yep, as per that saw, "There's no inflection in ASCII."

    Plus, no doubt there's an Internet rule to the effect that, no matter what it is, someone will take it seriously.