A Lesson in Capitals
by Miki Saxon
My client/friend, EMANIO CEO KG Charles-Harris, has been a guest poster here; he’s received several hat tips for sending links to information used in various posts and he just wracked up another one.
I’ve written before about the importance of details when writing; details like commas, periods and capitals.
But the note KG forwarded drives home the importance of capitals—unforgettably.
Miki, I received this from a friend who is an English Professor and thought you would appreciate it; it’s short and to the point.
In the world of hi-tech gadgetry, I’ve noticed that more and more people who send text messages and emails have long forgotten the art of capital letters.
For those of you who fall into this category, please take note of the following statement: “Capitalization is the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse and helping your uncle jack off a horse.”
Thanks, KG; graphic word imagery does get the point across, even to teens.
Flickr image credit: ScottieT812
July 25th, 2012 at 4:34 pm
I often see staff with horrible writing skills that don’t discriminate between “where” and “were”, “loose” and “lose”, etc. In addition the propensity for incorrect spelling (despite having easy access to spell check) and and typos is quite frustrating. What we write is often the only thing that clients see of us and, whether we believe it or not, we are judged by our writing.
Thanks for making this a subject of discussion.
July 26th, 2012 at 8:00 am
I have been actually thinking about this recently and I know I’m guilty of not using capitals all the time in text messages. At least I am not guilty of falling into the “b4, l8tr” type of abbreviation.
I also seem to have forgotten all the sentence rules that we learned so long ago. I have gotten into the habit of using the dash randomly to separate things where probably a comma is correct but I just don’t remember the rules. I think I need a refresher course.
July 26th, 2012 at 2:30 pm
I haven’t know the rules for years and according to my sister, the grammar maven, some have changed. But I read constantly and what I read uses correct grammar, so doing it correctly sinks in that way.
Using a dash for a comma in most communications is OK (I do it too), it’s using neither that can/will change the meaning. Capitals are different; I think most people skip them out of sheer laziness.
For me, this example of what happens is unforgettable enough that I’m sure it will jump up and kick my behind if I get that lazy.
July 30th, 2012 at 1:18 am
[…] A Lesson in Capitals […]
July 31st, 2012 at 10:31 am
Hi KG, I have no idea why, but your comment was marked as spam. My apologies.
With more sales happening online and by phone you are so right about writing being the only thing clients see. I find it funny that it’s often people who are very conscious of “first impressions” when dressing for a meeting who are some of the worst offenders when writing.