solosater

I'm sure there are rules for this sort of thing if I knew where to look, or had I 'ave been paying attention in my English classes ( I wasn't)

If a person chooses to give them self a login name that is not capitalized, such as mine, should I be capitalizing it if I open a sentence with it?

I generally don't; makes my spell check very upset. But that's THIER name, I don't want to change it for some silly rule of grammar. Mind, it bothers me not at all when someone capitalizes my login name.

I did once have a business called Trésor Bijou and when I went to a beading supply store the clerk promptly informed me I had spelled it wrong and there should be an x at the Bijou. That would make my business name jewels instead of the intended jewel. I told her I had intended it to be singular and had cleared it with my friend FROM FRANCE (lived there until her 20s); she said she was right as she'd taken 1.5 years of French in high school. I wanted to hit her and I avoided ever allowing her to check me out again as I thought she was an idiot; I've little tolerance for the species.

My point is, I’d hate for someone to feel that way about me but then again I do have to live with my spell check; he gives me dirty looks.

Login

No problem with me, solosater. if you want to drop the capital, that's fine.

solosater

But you capitalized your's.

I'm asking for those like marg. marg's login name is marg, if I were addressing a letter to marg ITRW I would say, "Dear Marg,...", but she chose to make her login name marg with a lowercase m.

I don't know if it's alright to write to her here and say, "Marg, ..." or should it be, "marg, ...".

Do you see?

And yes, I totally get that I am WAY over thinking this but it's been on my mind so I thought I'd put it out there.

matthew

Capital is proper... but who ever said we were proper... lol

solosater

Matthew then, go back to bed if you can't be more help than that.

Are you saying than that the prpoer way even if the name is generally lowercase is to start the sentence with it capitalized?

If so my spell check will thank you.

solosater

& I haven't slept at all yet so no funnin' on my spelling!

Raych

if they choose not to capitalise it, then that is what they wish to be called. I always type it as is, not change case, unless they have chosen to do AlTeRnAtIvE cos thats just too time consuming.

I also spend a lot of time in chat rooms, and u can drop the case all together and just put everything lowercase and ppl dont care.

solosater

Ok, I've asked Baldur to come and look at this for me but you seem to know of what you speak.

You're saying unless they have capitalized it themselves I don't need to and even so, if they don't mind, I don't need to, yes?

solosater

Oh, and would it be rude to capitalize if they haven't (their own name I mean)?

midnightpoet

Think of the same question in a different context. The word "cereal" is not capitalized. If you say "I'd like some cereal", you do not capitalize it, but if you were to put it at the beginning of the sentence and say, "Cereal is my daughter's favorite breakfast food", you would capitalize it...because that's the rule...the start of a sentence MUST be capitalized. It's not changing anyone's name, it's just following the rules.

solosater

That's what my spell check says and he's got those smarty pants glasses and all so I guess that's it; capitalize to start a sentence then after use their form.

midnightpoet

Gotta do what it takes to make Mr. Spell Check happy.

solosater

Oh yeah.

This has been a real back and forth in my head since the Think Write thing got started.

Not so much in the drawing comments but in the forum it seems there is a lot more addressing a particular person; I’ve just been crazy over it.

I already do my hillbilly speak so I worry if my grammar is terrible too and I can’t punctuate or capitalize correctly people are gonna’ start believing it.

I’m not nearly as dumb as I sound in writing I just like to write like I speak and unless I’m being very serious or grave I don’t worry about my speech so that comes across in my writing as well.

I’ve been complimented on it and of course there are those who feel the need to correct me but I really don’t spend time on any other forums or chat rooms or even do much texting so I just don’t know.

I thank you for the info all; I think I’ve got it now.

solosater

You know what else, I’m a stickler for proper word usage.

In the last Think Write Ron used the word adverse (bad), and a lot of people used it to say averse (reluctant), it drove me nuts!

I was nearly one of them but I realized it and promptly stopped.

marg

heya.. just my own take on this..

When I'm at work, my username is normally 'Marg..', but I've always signed myself 'marg' - for years. I guess I expect people at work to address emails to me as 'Marg', because that's what the basic rules of courtesy are.

Here on TD my login is 'marg', and I actually prefer people to address me as 'marg', rather than trying to make up the rest of the name, or adding capitals, extra letters, etc..

Similarly, I use 'Login' for Login.. which is how she's identified herself (and there ain't no nice abbreviation of that that I can think of !)... but, I use 'solo' for you.. which is a pet name, I guess - and also because 'solosater' is so long !

It's funny, because matthew almost had a hissy fit ages ago (I used to call him 'matt', in a friendly way), to make sure I addressed him as '****hew', but then he insists on capitalising mine.. so who knows !

Does that make sense.. and have you ever tried doing cunning things to a zucchini using a mouse trap ?

marg

BTW.. I think you're wonderfully articulate AND your spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc., are just fine by me !

solosater

marg, I'm never capitalizing your name again! I like solo, btw, so that's fine and I really dont care if you cap it or not but I ain't gonna'.

Mouse traps are evil and I wouln't do that to a zucchini; bad marg!

marg

hnhh, hnhh.. zucchini are TOOOO easy..

.. you oughta see what Baldur puts out to trap the faeries in his garden !

Baldur

I use a faerie vacuum

solosater

I think you're makin' that up!

Faeries can't be caught by a vacuum , they just swirl right out again.

You only think you've got 'em; they're sneaky that way.