tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post6729589807295158350..comments2023-10-31T10:28:50.158-04:00Comments on The Zeray Gazette: Capitalizing the Word "I"Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04854543617806427302noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-68730965307439006182008-09-13T16:57:00.000-04:002008-09-13T16:57:00.000-04:00Yeah, English is unique (at least, differing from ...Yeah, English is unique (at least, differing from the Romance languages that I have studied) in that it has no distinct familiarity/unfamiliarity. That, and all nouns are of neuter gender, unless they are literally male or female.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04854543617806427302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-3795546594134871452008-09-12T20:43:00.000-04:002008-09-12T20:43:00.000-04:00English is a wonderful hodgepodge of a language. ...English is a wonderful hodgepodge of a language. The original gael speaking Angles interacted with the Latin speaking Romans. The Angles were conquered (or driven into Wales) by Viking Saxons and the French-speaking but also Viking Normans. Somewhere German influences were brought in as well.<BR/><BR/>There was a tv show on the History Channel that actually gave a list of where we got certain words from and more interestingly the various words that all originally meant the same thing. For instance "big" is Scandinavian and "Large" is French-Latin in origin.Jeff the Baptisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-13616702743281387052008-09-12T16:19:00.000-04:002008-09-12T16:19:00.000-04:00This is exactly the kind of thing I find fascinati...This is exactly the kind of thing I find fascinating. I loved attending a small college as an undergrad, but going to a big university with a linguistics department would have been really enjoyable.<BR/><BR/>I've always wondered how and why the use of the familiar thee, thou, and thine forms dropped out in English. Just from a general sense of reading historical literature, it seems like it happened over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries.<BR/><BR/>If you really want to mess yourself up, think about how extensively we use the helping very "to do." As in, "Do you want to go to the store?" And, "I didn't want to eat that." Or, "I did practice the piano yesterday." To my knowledge, the other European languages don't do this. They would say the equivalent of "Want you to go to the store" or "I no wanted/wanted not to eat that." I would love to have someone explain how that usage developed in English.Andrew C. Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00219444874913518106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-70213893650837148072008-09-12T13:38:00.000-04:002008-09-12T13:38:00.000-04:00We probably capitalize "i" because it is a single ...We probably capitalize "i" because it is a single letter. In most of the other languages "I" is translated to a word with multiple characters. The exception might be German, but then it's often "ich". <BR/><BR/>Sure we don't capitalize "a", but "a" is an indefinite article and rarely an important part of sentence or crucial to meaning.<BR/><BR/>Also the reason why English is considered an informal language compared to most of the continental tongues is that we effectively lack formal grammar. Since thee, thou, and thine (which were actually the familiars not the formals) are considered archaic, the current pronouns have done double duty as both formal and familiar.<BR/><BR/>Every European I've worked with has come to realize that losing the formal/familiar divide is one of those things that has greatly shaped English-speaking class structure. Talking to their bosses the same way they talk to their friends is considered a wonderfully subversive language feature.Jeff the Baptisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13978930508610389584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-25839823404953169712008-09-11T19:32:00.000-04:002008-09-11T19:32:00.000-04:00Fascinating, I didn't know that. Actually, it's qu...Fascinating, I didn't know that. Actually, it's quite illuminating since our culture is so focused on what I call the "New Trinity" (me, myself, and I!). Could our language contribute to our focus on self, or is it simply a reflection of it? Hmmmmm.Steve Westhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10983065678880352975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-31462981568800386372008-09-11T19:10:00.000-04:002008-09-11T19:10:00.000-04:00that's Interesting.that's Interesting.BruceAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16013588487417582411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-39716092078308685512008-09-11T17:07:00.000-04:002008-09-11T17:07:00.000-04:00i, for one, am uncomfortable with capital letters ...i, for one, am uncomfortable with capital letters in general, and certainly with capitilizing my self. check out my blog and you'll see that i am very consistent with this. however, forget whether or not we capatalize it, what about trying to have a conversation without the word 'i' at all? i think c.s. lewis once prescribed this as a helpful exercise. we tend to be quite self-centered. at least i do.greg milinovichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04494018362755379449noreply@blogger.com