[Cabbage]

I know that when talking about myself I'm supposed to capitalise the I as I'm talking about I and yeah.. but I was wondering about my?

[Rob]

Cabbage, on Jun 2 2008, 22:16, said:

I know that when talking about myself I'm supposed to capitalise the I as I'm talking about I and yeah.. but I was wondering about my?

I've never capitalised "my" in that way before. I always thought that you just never left an "I" on it's own without capitalising it – never thought about the reason!

[notbanksy]

Rob, on Jun 2 2008, 22:27, said:

I've never capitalised "my" in that way before. I always thought that you just never left an "I" on it's own without capitalising it – never thought about the reason!

The reason you don't capitalise 'my' is the same reason you don't capitalise 'your'. It's a posessive pronoun. The only time it's correct to capitalise them is if the posessor is royalty, or god! (eg. show Your mercy, oh Lord etc)
I is capitalised (innit) because it is a proper noun. We always capitalise proper nouns, so why should we question capitalising I? Think of it as the first person version of your name.
Hope that clears it up nicely!

[wizely]

notbanksy, on Jun 3 2008, 09:11, said:

The reason you don't capitalise 'my' is the same reason you don't capitalise 'your'. It's a posessive pronoun. The only time it's correct to capitalise them is if the posessor is royalty, or god! (eg. show Your mercy, oh Lord etc)
I is capitalised (innit) because it is a proper noun. We always capitalise proper nouns, so why should we question capitalising I? Think of it as the first person version of your name.
Hope that clears it up nicely!

"you" ?

[sorry notbanksy but 'I' is a personal pronoun - we just capitalise it like a proper noun]

I've never heard a definitive explanation - but it's probably just to make it easier to read as 'i' tends to get lost.

[notbanksy]

wizely, on Jun 3 2008, 09:20, said:

"you" ?

[sorry notbanksy but 'I' is a personal pronoun - we just capitalise it like a proper noun]

I've never heard a definitive explanation - but it's probably just to make it easier to read as 'i' tends to get lost.

godsdamnit!
I was half right
Thanks for pointing it out Wizely. I didn't think that one through nearly enough before posting

[wizely]

notbanksy, on Jun 3 2008, 09:59, said:

godsdamnit!
I was half right
Thanks for pointing it out Wizely. I didn't think that one through nearly enough before posting

You were at least brave enough to (shame I had to come along and trample on it!!!). I'm trying hard not to be a smart-arse. I always try to make my posts informative and helpful rather than "You're wrong - I'm an expert. What's your experience? Is that it?!!!". I always prefer to create a discussion.

You're just unlucky this was a grammatical thing. I only added 3 letters ("pro"), you got the other 15 spot-on - that's much more than half right!!!!

And all this for a fellow without his hamster - God you've had it rough lately!!!

[Sono Juventino]

wizely, on Jun 3 2008, 11:16, said:

God you've had it rough lately!!!

God, You've had it rough lately?

Just a joke thought. I'm not really an english expert.

[rjdejong]

I always thought you english folks used capital i because they are so arrogant just kidding

As far as i know it's the only language where you refer to yourself with capital i, have always wondered why.

[wizely]

rjdejong, on Jun 3 2008, 11:42, said:

I always thought you english folks used capital i because they are so arrogant just kidding

As far as i know it's the only language where you refer to yourself with capital i, have always wondered why.

In German I think they use a capital for the polite form of you ("Sie")? - maybe we're just polite to ourselves!

[rjdejong]

wizely, on Jun 3 2008, 10:56, said:

In German I think they use a capital for the polite form of you ("Sie")? - maybe we're just polite to ourselves!

Hah that's a nice way of putting it.

"Sie" is the polite version of "du".

Is there a polite version of "you" btw?, or are you people just always rude ?

[wizely]

rjdejong, on Jun 3 2008, 12:00, said:

Hah that's a nice way of putting it.

"Sie" is the polite version of "du".

Is there a polite version of "you" btw?, or are you people just always rude ?

There's no polite form (like usted in Spanish) and no plural form (like ustedes/vosotros in Spanish) - despite what scousers (from Liverpool) insist - they say "you's"!

But, most of my freinds not from England think it's so funny that we say "please" and "thankyou" so much - even my friends from Holland!
In Spain, for example, Spanish people don't use "por favor" or "gracias" any where near as much as we say "please" and "thank you" in English. But, on that note, the 'ustedes' (polite form) of Spanish is getting used less and less with every generation.

[rjdejong]

wizely, on Jun 3 2008, 11:14, said:

There's no polite form (like usted in Spanish) and no plural form (like ustedes/vosotros in Spanish) - despite what scousers (from Liverpool) insist - they say "you's"!

But, most of my freinds not from England think it's so funny that we say "please" and "thankyou" so much - even my friends from Holland!
In Spain, for example, Spanish people don't use "por favor" or "gracias" any where near as much as we say "please" and "thank you" in English. But, on that note, the 'ustedes' (polite form) of Spanish is getting used less and less with every generation.

Yea same here in the netherlands we have "jij" and "u" and "u" is starding to fade slowly. Ahh well soon we will talk english aswell, More and more english words are becoming part of dutch language.

[Sono Juventino]

In Norway, we have de and De (them and you-polite version). Not common in neighter talk or writing thought. Not even to stranger/letters etc. Kind of like the sie/Sie in German. (But they use it)

[Alice D]

I believe 'thou' used to be the familiar version of 'you'. So we stuck with 'you', meaning we are polite all the time!

http://jan.ucc.nau.e...essin%20AME.htm

[BlueDreamer]

rjdejong, on Jun 3 2008, 11:42, said:

As far as i know it's the only language where you refer to yourself with capital i, have always wondered why.

http://www.alt-usage...s/fxwhyisi.html might provide a reason

[wizely]

Gosh you guys have too much time on your hands!
I'd heard about the 'ic' to 'ich' and the 'i' thing before but, as far as I remembered there was a hefty gap between developing the 'i' form and the 'I' form which I think only came about as us lowly peasants started to learn to read and write!
Because the other personal pronouns aren't capitalised then I think it's more to do with avoiding confusion than the etymology of the word. The only other 1-letter word we have is 'a' which is a fatter and rounder letter so stands-out enough.
By that I mean... there have been plenty of evolutions of English words from Old through Middle to Modern and, as Alice point-out 'you' has done the same - but 'I' remains different to the other personal pronouns - it could have easily been 'i' which fits - except it's so hard to read in a sentence.