On Capitalization

[cnorman18]

A small matter that has bothered me for some time, not as a theist but as a grammarian, is the rather studied and deliberate manner in which some on this board refuse to spell the word "God" with a capital letter when it refers to the God of Christianity or Judaism.

When referring to multiple gods, e.g. the Greek gods, or to unspecified "gods" in general, the uncapitalized form is perfectly proper; but when referring, as is most commonly the case here, to the Judeo-Christian God, it ought to be spelled properly, as "God," because it is in effect a proper name. That practice does not indicate belief or even respect; that is simply the way it's spelled.

Muslims do not typically use that term, preferring "Allah," and I do not notice anyone refusing to capitalize that. Again, that's simply the way it's spelled. No one assumes it means you believe in Allah when you trouble to spell it right.

Refusing to capitalize the word strikes me as petty and more than a little childish, nothing more than a calculated bit of provocation and disrespect. And it's silly. After all, you don't even see the most irrational and wrongheaded of fundamentalists and YECs referring to "charles darwin."

The word is "God." Spell it properly. No one's going to mistake you for a Baptist.

Debate question is obvious. Someone's going to try to defend this bit of petty nonsense.

(For the record, "rabbi" is not capitalized, except when used as a personal title: "my rabbi," as opposed to "Rabbi Stein." "Jew" and "Jewish," on the other hand, are always capitalized, in any form or context, but "synagogue" is not.)

I once taught English as well as mathematics. You don't have to respect God, but you ought to respect the language.

[beankitty]

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It's conditioning - if you spend your life around those who do not speak properly, you will begin to speak that way too. This is a very simple concept. It's just like teachers in the public school system. When getting credentialed, they have to take tons of classes and pass hard tests. After working in the system for a decade and more, those with a masters in English now use words like "ain't", "good" when it should be "well", etc.. that's just how it is...

An observation: When I was teaching college classes long ago, many public school teachers took summer or evening classes to fulfill ongoing education requirements of their contracts. Many of those who had been teaching one grade level for some time SPOKE a lot like their students. It was quite often possible to guess pretty accurately the grade level some taught just from their manner of speaking.

That's true, but I was referring to secondary teachers. Those who teach seniors in high school.

[beankitty]

Well, "nobody" is inaccurate. There are several here, including myself, who continue to respect the language. Not everybody writes everything as if it were a text message.

I assumed it was obvious that saying "nobody" would mean the majority of people. Obviously, if "nobody" did, this topic would not exist now would it?

And it isn't just here. If you want to get a book published, it had better be written in standard English. Most major magazines are still grammatically correct, though some bonehead errors are growing more common (using "everyday" as an adverb instead of as an adjective, for instance).

English is altered by the masses, and "rules" are changed. For example, "cool" is not slang anymore, the Dictionary has been changed.

I have never thought that it was the appropriate response, when confronted with coarseness and barbarity, to shrug and become a part of it.

The LEAST I want to do is conform. To imply that I "shrug" and follow along is not right. My English used to be great, now it isn't, and not by choice. It's conditioning - if you spend your life around those who do not speak properly, you will begin to speak that way too. This is a very simple concept. It's just like teachers in the public school system. When getting credentialed, they have to take tons of classes and pass hard tests. After working in the system for a decade and more, those with a masters in English now use words like "ain't", "good" when it should be "well", etc.. that's just how it is...

That does happen, but it isn't inevitable. I was a public middle-school teacher for 23 years, and somehow retained the ability to use the subjunctive case. The slang expressions in my own speech generally come from my own youth in the 60s.

Far out, huh?

Very few things are inevitable, but it sure does come close.

I'm glad you retained the ability. Unfortunately, most don't, which was my whole point to begin with.