Why does the English language...

[iamnotcool]

capitalize "I" and not "a?" It has been bugging me lately. I finally got the courage to ask the internet, so be proud of me. :]

[AgainstYou]

You know......that's actually a good question!!!

But I don't know

[Fleshlight]

You know......that's actually A good question!!!

But i don't know

[iCock]

Your name fits you.

[ZagmenO]

I dunno. Maybe we're so self-righteous that when we talk about ourselves we gotta make it stand out like that?

[Raguel]

A better question would be 'why do we capitalize 'I' and not 'me'?'.

[KillerCRS]

Pronoun.

That's why.

[AgainstYou]

At 11/2/08 10:33 PM, iCock wrote: Your name fits you.

And you're name fits the poster above you

[Fantum]

I think it's because "I" is a personal pronoun, substituting your name, which would otherwise be capitalized.
That then raises the question, why isn't "me" capitalized?

[HolyTomato]

because I is personal/first person and we're egotistical

thats all i could come up with

[LordSecet]

At 11/2/08 10:36 PM, Fantum wrote: I think it's because "I" is a personal pronoun, substituting your name, which would otherwise be capitalized.
That then raises the question, why isn't "me" capitalized?

because ME is obnoxious.

[Ozcar]

Because " I " are important...

[4Doctodragon]

At 11/2/08 10:33 PM, iCock wrote: Your name fits you.

Coincidentally enough.

[jewdudewtf]

Because I is a proper noun I think, referring to yourself.
"a" just refers to nouns.

I hope I'm not making myself a fool of myself.

[firemaker60]

It's because the English Language is nothing but a clusterfuck of all other languages, so nothing in it really makes sense.

[Earfetish]

The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology (Wilson, 1988, ISBN 0-8242-0745-9) says: "~I~ pron. 1137 i; later I (about 1250, in The Story of Genesis and Exodus); developed from the unstressed form of Old English (about 725) ic singular pronoun of the first person (nominative case). Modern and Middle English I developed from earlier i in the stressed position. I came to be written with a capital letter thereby making it a distinct word and avoiding misreading handwritten manuscripts. In the northern and midland dialects of England the capitalized form I appeared about 1250.

In the south of England, where Old English ic early shifted in pronunciation to ich (by palatalization), the form I did not become established until the 1700's (although it appears sporadically before that time)."

http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fx whyisi.html

[Earfetish]

Might be worth pointing out that 'I' is pronounced 'aye', like you would pronounce the capital letter, whereas a small 'i' would phonetically sound like 'ih'.

[fli]

I remember this.
There are a variety probable reasons.

I've heard that this was a stylistic situation for scribes,who wrote all in capital. And, for some reason, when reading and writing was becoming more accessible to people who could afford to buy it, that's how it's taught.

We need to remember that there were no set guidelines to spelling and grammar until past the 1700's when people started to make rules. People spelt things they way it sounded to their ear.

Has anyone read Chaucer in the original language that hasn't been homogenized by editors? He often spells the same word 6 different ways, and sometimes he changes the rules just to make the poem work. I think he even used "I" and "i" as he pleased.

We all just have to remember...
English is a language that makes a bunch of exceptions, and mostly because they're supposedly "traditional" or they're some throw back to a different time and people.

I mean, how come the plural of "child" isn't "childs" but "children?"
Because, back then, to make a plural, all you had to do was put a "-en" in the end. But as the plural "-s" became more popular, nearly every word followed through that rule... except for the most used words such as "children."

I think that, one day, "Oxen" will disappear and we will see it as "Oxes."

[TheThirdSix]

'I' is a proper noun, since we're talking about a person. You'd think that we would capitalize 'him' or 'her' as well, but eh.

[kraor024]

At 11/2/08 11:01 PM, TheThirdSix wrote: 'I' is a proper noun, since we're talking about a person. You'd think that we would capitalize 'him' or 'her' as well, but eh.

"I" is a proper noun because you are referring to a specific person, him & her are general and can be used to refer to any one while "I" is referring specifically to the speaker.

[FoAngel]

I never thought id see the day that NGers would be discussing grammar.....instead of correcting it :D

That's what i'm proud of!

[Slug-Gunner]

lol stop woring and relax :)

[squidly]

because John English which invented English, felt like it.

[Earfetish]

I is a pronoun guys, not a proper noun. A personal subjective pronoun.

[Purpin]

Just turn caps lock on and you don't have to worry about it.

[hervzilla]

the english language is retarded. there are rules for certain ways to spell thing but then there are still some words that don't follow the rules....i always hated english class...

[Kuro]

At 11/2/08 10:35 PM, KillerCRS wrote: Pronoun.

That's why.

Yeah, but so is 'you', 'we', 'me', 'they', 'us', etc.

[DevourerJay]

who cares... its a bit late to change the language...

[Tluck-Person]

At 11/2/08 10:48 PM, firemaker60 wrote: It's because the English Language is nothing but a clusterfuck of all other languages, so nothing in it really makes sense.

So pretty much, English is the most unoriginal language ever created?

Yeah. I'll drink to that.

[beeryayghost]

This is the most constructive thread I've seen in a while.