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Error ID Number: 62
URL: <http://dedalvs.com/guide/search_english.php?word=62> Problem(s):- I just found out how to make ice cream on the Internet!
Solution(s):- I just found out how to make ice cream on the internet!
Explanation:- Ignoring the ambiguity of that problem sentence, most dictionaries and style guides will tell you to capitalize the word "internet". Always.
And they're serious!
I don't know when the stylistas went insane, but it was some time before they decided that the word "internet" was as important as our first person singular pronoun.
For their sake, let us review the case for the capitalization of "internet".
One ought always to capitalize a proper noun. Is "internet" a proper noun? No.
Every so often, place names that are not proper nouns are capitalized as if they were. The word "Capitol" comes to mind. But before we get into a discussion about whether the internet is important enough of a place to be capitalized, is the internet a place? No.
We're rapidly running out of possibilities... Uhh, let's see... Single-letter abbreviations are capitalized (so M.D. is capitalized, but the "grad." in "grad. student" isn't). Is "internet" a single-letter abbreviation? No.
Hmm... Acronyms are generally capitalized. Is "internet" an acronym? Hmm... "Information Network to Expedite Really Neat Electronic...Treatises"? No.
Is "internet" the name of a country, like the Netherlands? Nope.
Okay. So what's the deal? Why is this word capitalized? Frankly, I find it disturbing. Capitalizing the word "internet" is precisely the type of thing that George Orwell would want to warn us against. The internet is not a person! It's not even a place! As I understand it, it's a series of tubes that...can get clogged, and make it so your e-mails don't arrive when you think they ought...
Seriously, the "internet" is nothing more than a series of servers around the world connected by wires (or now wirelessly, making the connection even more tenuous). If the internet is a place, then so is the telephone grid, or the mail system. We don't capitalize those, though.
So, if you're capitalizing the word internet, I ask you—I beg you, from the bottom of my heart: Stop it! Just stop it! There's no point to it! It's nonsense! Whenever I see the word "internet" capitalized, I feel like strangling myself with a live cobra. (That's one of the many reasons why I don't read The New Yorker anymore.)
I'm not too worried, though. Capitalizing "internet" takes a lot more effort than not capitalizing it. Seeing as it's also unnecessary, I bet the practice will have disappeared in about fifty years. In the meantime, I'll be waiting. And watching. On the internet!
Categories: | 6 / 10 / 2009 |
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Error ID Number: 56
URL: <http://dedalvs.com/guide/search_english.php?word=56> Problem(s):- Our fathers commemorated the Massacre of the fifth of March, 1770, till that dark hour was lost in the blaze of the fourth day of July, 1776, and the events which followed it.
Solution(s):- Our fathers commemorated the massacre of the fifth of March, 1770, till that dark hour was lost in the blaze of the fourth day of July, 1776, and the events which followed it.
Explanation:- You might recognize this problem sentence from the last error I posted. Indeed, it is the very same sentence, but the error is different. You might notice that one too many words is capitalized in the problem sentence—namely, the word "massacre". It's not at the beginning of the sentence, it's not a name, it's not a month or day of the week, it's not the pronoun "I"—it's not anything; it's just a noun. Therefore, when it comes to hitting the shift key or not, you should not.
But here's a question. This sentence was printed in an actual newspaper in 1852, and it was accepted at the time. Why would it be? What's the deal with capitalizing some random word?
Here's where it all comes from. In the German language, all nouns (though not all pronouns, oddly enough) are capitalized. So, if you're speaking German, you have to capitalize every Noun you write, whether it be an unimportant Noun like Book, an important one like Ice Cream, or one related to Architecture like Buttress. The result is that German looks like the previous sentence in print.
English is not like this, but if you'll recall, there were a lot of German speakers in America shortly after its founding. Somehow, their spelling habits worked their way into the public consciousness (look at the Declaration of Independence, for example). As with many customs that are assumed and not taught, though, the practice was borrowed imperfectly. Basically, people just capitalized any old word they wanted to look important—even verbs! There was little systematicity (what rule, after all, would call for only the word "massacre" to be capitalized in the problem sentence above?), and each writer did things a little differently.
Fast forward to modern times, the practice of random capitalization has gone the way of the dodo. One simply can't capitalize Whatever one feels to be Important anymore, I'm afraid. If you feel like emulating the old style, though, remember two things: First, there was no real systematicity to what they were doing; and second, you can't capitalize everything, like the Germans do, otherwise the capitalized words won't stand out, and that's what people were going for back then.
Categories: | 4 / 14 / 2009 |
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Error ID Number: 14
URL: <http://dedalvs.com/guide/search_english.php?word=14> Problem(s):- I know several members of the deaf community.
Solution(s):- I know several members of the Deaf community.
Explanation:- There's an important distinction between "deaf" and "Deaf". With a lower case "d", "deaf" refers to the inability to hear. With an upper case "D", "Deaf" refers to one's ability to sign (i.e., to use a signed language such as ASL). Members of the American Deaf community started the convention of capitalizing "Deaf" to draw a distinction between the two different views of deafness (the hearing world's view and the Deaf world's view). When referring to the community, or to Deaf culture, or to a Deaf signer, it's appropriate to use capital "D" Deaf, as opposed to lower case "d" deaf.
Categories: | 3 / 10 / 2007 |
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Error ID Number: 7
URL: <http://dedalvs.com/guide/search_english.php?word=7> Problem(s):- We americans live in america and speak english, just as spaniards live in spain and speak spanish, and cambodians live in cambodia and speak cambodian.
Solution(s):- We Americans live in America and speak English, just as Spaniards live in Spain and speak Spanish, and Cambodians live in Cambodia and speak Khmer.
Explanation:- In English, capitalize the name of a nation, as well as the names of those who dwell therein. The same goes for states. Those who are fluent in the written form of another language might have trouble with this one, because many languages do not capitalize the names of residents of a country (or state) or the names of languages. A trap I've seen many American students fall into is capitalizing "America", "American" and "English", but not any other nation, nationality or language. Don't do this. It makes it seem like you're placing America and its people and language above all others, which is something you probably don't want to do.
Additionally, I wanted to point out that you can't derive the name of a language from every country name. For example, we don't speak American in America, we speak English (and a number of other languages). Likewise, the residents of Cambodia don't speak Cambodian, but Khmer, a fascinating language with an equally fascinating orthography.
Categories: | 3 / 5 / 2007 |
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