"Is it really that difficult to use capital letters?" Topic

No no they were deliferate typografical mistales old chap! :-( Alas not, my error or rather my typing.

Damned annoying when I have to go through peoples addresses and add capital letters so I can print their posting labels.

I'm with the old farts on this one.

I ACTUALLY HAVE MORE PROBLEMS WITH PEOPLE USING ONLY CAPITAL LETTERS.

But yeah, using more or less correct grammar and letters etc would be nice.

I'm guilty of using caps inappropriately.

(That's more proof I need to dust off my grad studies!)

Alas,my italics don't always post as I'd like so I've
resorted to caps or asterices.

There is one reason you've omitted for eschewing capital
letters.

Ever have kittens remove your shift and caps keys?

I chatted in a precursor to leet one day just because
the furballs were raiding the keyboard for cat toys.

(We gave up when they batted 'enter' down the old-timey
cold air register.)

Based on the feline assistance I've received,I've come
to attribute the more egregious posts to cats.

Things I've learned about communication since I've been visiting TMP:

1. The primary use of the apostrophe is to alert the read that an s is coming. For example: She sells seashells by the seashore" is more correctly written "'She 'sell's 'sea'shell's by the 'sea'shore."

2. Another acceptable use of an apostrophe is to make an e sound like an a, as in carpe' diem or cache'.

3. The final acceptable use of an apostrophe is to show a plural, as in CD's, RPG's, tank's, and wargame's.

4. Equally important to effective modern communications is the use of quote marks to enclose every single noun. For emphatic, effective communication, be sure to enclose each adjective modifying the noun in its own set of quotes, as in restating the first sentence of the paragraph: Equally important to "effective" "modern" "communications" is the "use" of "quote marks" to enclose "every" "single" "noun".

5. Another handy trick is the use of the mark (sp?). It comes from an old Latin phrase that means "I know exactly what I want to say but I'm too lazy to look up the correct spelling of the word so you'll either have to know what I'm referring to or look it up yourself because I can't be bothered.

6. And finally, thank heaven for phonics in our school systems. It enables us to read and instantly understand words and phrases that earlier generations might have though were misspelled; e.g., Rouge Trader (lipstick merchants of a future empire), cache -- pronounced cash-shay -- which is, I think, the scent that old ladies keep in their cachet (also confusing pronounced cash-shay), as opposed to the word cache (pronounced cash) where equipment, weapons, and ammunition are stored. Another common favorite is forte (which should be spelled forte' -- see rule 2 above -- when pronounced for-tay). As near as I've been able to figure, people use it for something that they are particularly loud about. It is sometimes difficult to understand even in context -- I mean, I can understand someone saying, "My forte' is golf clothes" because gold clothes sure are loud! But I just don't get "My forte' is the history of the War of Jenkins' Ear." I mean, really, how loud can that be? And of course, the most famous is bound to be that Middle Eastern mounted unit -- the Calvary, who apparently were permanently stationed on a hill near Jerusalem.

I hope that "everyone" ha's been able to glean a's much u'seful "knowledge" from the "TMP" po'sting "convention's" a's I have. I am 'sure that it ha's been very helpful to our "comrade's" for whom "Engli'sh" i's not there "fir'st" "language" and it will not be long before they can 'say that they're forte' i's writing "engli'sh" like a "native".

'Sharpei diem ('seize the "wrinkled" "dog").

I'm with the old farts on this one.

Winning over the younger generation, one whippersnapper at a time.

jizbrand, that is a very handy summation.

(sp?) is indeed derived from Latin, meaning "sine problemo", or "without a problem". It's, use, is idiomatic, at, best.

The final acceptable use of an apostrophe is to show a plural, as in CD's, RPG's, tank's, and wargame's.

The first two are quite acceptable; indeed, many style guides recommend them. The apostrophe indicates that there are letters missing, in this case "isc" from "discs" and "ame" from "games".

Marvel Comics, … of course, make a virtue of CAPITALISATION for effect.

Until recently, both Marvel and DC comics were lettered entirely in capitals. Emphasis was indicated by the use of boldface. So your examples would look like this (with due adjustment to alow for traditional comic book punctuation):

"REAL AMERICANS SUPPORT X OR Y!"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT FURRINERS THINK!!!"

p'er fortugna non sogno anglese e pozzo scrivere tanto bene assai nella mia bella lingua ch'è ma inzegnato mamma mia
=:-O

As a retired teacher I do my best to stay retired and not rectify errors, syntactical, grammatical or in spelling, annoy me as they might.

However, as a local town councillor, I do take a certain deliberate pleasure in correcting the English, in e-mails, of senior council officers and then drawing their attention to it by absent mindedly hitting the "reply all" button.

Bearing in mind their salaries, I have high expectations of the level of their literacy.

An Army chum and I had a discussion over weather forte was pronounced [fort] or [for-tay].

Just be glad "leet" speak is used with irony here rather than with conviction as on some fora.

Ever have kittens remove your shift and caps keys?

No. I did lose my W key once though, and sounded like a vampire till I got a new keyboard. Vell, it vas not vithout humor…

ElaineP

Very subtle humor. I'm impressed. Nicely done.

JackWhite

My take on this subject has always been:

It's the responsibility of the poster to be understood. If you can't make the effort to be clear, then why should you expect that I expend any effort to discern your intent?

"The first two are quite acceptable; indeed, many style guides recommend them."

There is no need for apostrophes indicating a plural on capitalized letters, numbers, and symbols. Any such guides should be used as tinder to set their authors alight.

Allen

Allen – I said that apostrophes were acceptable, not needed, when indicating missing letters. My own preference is not to use them.

My favourite style guide (Fowler's Modern English Usage, 1965 edition, as revised by Sir Ernest Gowers) is of no use here: if Fowler or Gowers had heard of such things, they would have referred to C.D.s and R.P.G.s. But the use of periods to separate initials has declined since their day, roughly in proportion to the increase in the frequency with which people use initials as words.

So far as I know, there is no plausible reason to insert apostrophes in plurals such as "1970s". I would try pluralising symbols at all.

Sorry, that last sentence should read, "I would try to avoid pluralising symbols at all."

I should also try to avoid hitting "submit" before I have finished proof-reading.

I wouldn't worry too much. I got some sculpts from him just about 10 days ago, so he was alive at least!

Bugged!

An Army chum and I had a discussion over weather forte was pronounced [fort] or [for-tay].

The proper pronunciation is "fort," since it is a French word. It means the strong part of a blade (nearer the hilt), and, by extension, a person's strong point(s). The "fortay" pronunciation comes from the Italian musical term that means "in a forceful manner."

The general usage is "fortay," though, since many people don't know any better; so that will most likely eventually become the "proper" pronunciation.

It seems that this thread has a different bug, too -- missing posts. I posted another message immediately after my own at the end of page 1. It never appeared. I reposted it and that never appeared.

Also, I can't find the original message that was quoted by Steve Flanagan:

Marvel Comics, … of course, make a virtue of CAPITALISATION for effect.

Anybody else losing messages on this thread?

I can't find the original message that was quoted by Steve Flanagan

It was the first of two posts by Carlos Marighela, about halfway down the first page of this thread. It was still there for me when I checked.

"Allen – I said that apostrophes were acceptable, not needed, when indicating missing letters. My own preference is not to use them."

I was not advocate setting *you* alight, Steve! I've seen the proponents of their use, but I don't agree with them. The argument that they replace missing letters (as in correct usages, such as "I don't remember much of the '60s!") doesn't wash.

However, I can accept their use to form plurals of single lowercase letters, as in: "Mind your p's and q's."

Should someone set fire to you, I will come running with an extinguisher.

Allen