Me, Myself and I

The NY Times ^ | August 3, 2008 | CAROLINE WINTER

[forkinsocket]

.

[nikos1121]

don know

[Beowulf9]

Fascinating!

[Rudder]

Why do we capitalize the word “I”?

For purely ego-maniacal reasons, caroline.

[mmichaels1970]

On the last day of voting, Clinton led the pack with 64 “I” ’s and McCain followed with 60. Obama’s “I” count lagged at 30, and he was the only candidate whose combined “we” ’s (37) and “you” ’s (16) outnumbered his “I” ’s.

So THAT'S the point the NY Times is getting to.

[Sax]

“I” for the individual. Individual rights and responsibilities.

[marron]

Its usually a mistake to read too much psychoanalysis into a point of grammar.

Generalizing from too small a detail will almost always distort more than it clarifies.

[Tax-chick]

It used to be common in English also to capitalize You in general correspondence. One sees it sometimes in communications from foreigners writing English.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Because “i” looks rather pathetic.

[vladimir998]

Also appeared here http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/03/opinion/edsafire.php

Notice different title.

I sure hope she’s accomplishing more in Europe than this article shows.

[donna]

So it won’t look like a little l?

[TheWasteLand]

I. It is a statement, eternal and indelible, of the ancient Anglo-Saxon commitment to and respect for the preeminence of the individual, a literal symbol of that most cherished birthright of every man - liberty.

Or i could be making this up.

[I still care]

Because English reflects the rights and glory of mankind?

We also capitalize the word God.

I’ve always said that very small things in philosophy have very large consequences in culture.

It’s just a hypothesis, but we are a culture that reveres the individual, as opposed to the collective.

[Popman]

Its usually a mistake to read too much psychoanalysis into a point of grammar.

I'd call it psychotic.

Though e.e. cummings may disagree.

[calex59]

Oh, yeah, this is important. Don’t cover the republicans in the house every day trying to get Pelosi back to call a vote, cover something as asinine as capital Is.

[Cobra64]

There are a few around here that would disagree with you. He calls it first amendment rights. While it is freedom of expression, it violates English convention. I think he’s probably from a turd world country, so it doesn’t matter to him.

[pgkdan]

I don’t know why everyone else capitalizes “I” but I know why I do.

[Verginius Rufus]

Modern computer programs automatically turn a small “i” into a capital “I.” That can sometimes be a nuisance if you’re typing a phrase or title from a foreign language—the small “i” by itself is the masculine plural definite article in Italian, for example, and means “in” in Swedish and “and” in Polish and Croatian (as well as in Russian, Serbian, and Bulgarian, if you are transliterating into the Latin alphabet).

[Old North State]

Obama’s “I” count lagged at 30...
A lot of these politicians have also adopted the Royal ‘we’ when they discuss themselves, or use ‘my campaign’ as a surrogate expression.

[Elsiejay]

And the point of this palaver is . . . . . ..