Why is the personal pronoun 'I' capitalized

[pokerfan]

but the personal pronouns we, you, he, she, they are not? :shrug:

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Because if it weren't capitalized, it would be lowercase.

And it isn't spelled with a lowercase 'i', it's spelled with a capital one.

:silly: :crazy:

Sorry, I was channeling teabegger/freeper/creation-science logic for a moment.

Actually, I don't know, though I suspect it's a holdover from the days when English was German, and nouns and pronouns were capitalized. Somehow we lost it on the other pronouns, but kept it on the I's.

Interesting question. I hope someone chimes in with the answer!

[Pharlo]

3. Personally, I think the

teabegger, freeper, creation-science logic would spin more towards: Because "I" am important and 'you/he/she/it/we/they' are not important.

Simple really.

[pokerfan]

14. This

I is more important than you!

[trof]

8. Know where 'lower case' comes from?

No googleing.
;-)

[MorningGlow]

11. The trays of letters that printers used? n/t

[trof]

12. You got it!

The 'small' letters were in the lower wooden case because they were used most and that made them easier to reach.
The capital (less used) letters were in the upper case.

When I was in journalism school in the early 60s I took a course in the now arcane practice of hand setting type.
You had to learn to read letters reversed (back-to-front) and backwards.
:shrug:

[MorningGlow]

13. W00t! It's official!

My mind is a vast repository for useless trivia. :P

[realisticphish]

15. i find it fascinating

that early on, a lot of typesetters were completely illiterate. They just matched the patterns up.

Which actually makes sense: it seems like it's a lot easier to invert words if you have no idea what it says

[MiddleFingerMom]

18. That logic doesn't stand up...

.
...to the Central Scrutinizer.
.
"I" is the most oft-used pronoun of them all -- if "ease-of-reach" were a
factor, the pronoun "I" would use a lower-case letter (though the pronouns
us'ns and ya'll might be upper-case).
.
Took a printing course in college. The professor was fairly well-off and
had been responsible for instituting the course -- didn't hoit that he had
donated his printing press to the school.
.
We put together a book of poetry in what was considered "fine print publishing".
I would have LOVED a copy, but it was a VERY limited-edition run.
.
Pretty cool. The professor LIVED for that publishing -- said it was the motivation
for pretty much everything else he did.
.
He had this amazing walk-in wine cooler at his house and when he threw parties,
would not be parsimonious with the value of the wine bottles he brought up for
the purpose of our over-indulgence.
.
Needless to say... one of my favorite professors.
.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear pokerfan!

Because I am the center of the universe, that's why!

:P

[petronius]

4. Actually, ve are the center of the universe...

This inane post has been brought to you by the letter 'V'...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. ROFL!

:rofl:

[tXr]

6. Why does the English alphabet have a "double u" (w) but not a "double n" (m)?

:shrug:

[trof]

9. And a double 'U' is actually a double 'V'.

:shrug:

[Taverner]

7. Because there is no I in team!

:silly:

[trof]

10. Yeah, it was "The 'A' Team" 'cause there IS an 'A' in teAm.

Everybody knows that.

[Odin2005]

16. To make it easier to see back in the middle ages.

a lower-case I would tend to be hard to see in many medieval manuscripts.

[qnr]

17. No idea, maybe I is distinct but i looks too much like a lowercase L or a 1 in

a lot of fonts.

[pokerfan]

21. This has always made me laugh

Unix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_%28Unix%29#Formatting">date format strings:

[qnr]

24. heheh yeah - I know what you mean on both counts. I use the date command in

a lot of scripts, and I vaguely remember having a manual typewriter that didn't have a 1 key.

[Bucky]

22. Upper case I looks like an L in sans serif fonts.

I hate to see the word ill capitalized. It drives me bonkers. Bonkers I tell you. Usually the only difference is that two l's are slightly taller than the uppercase I. And that's just not right.

My first typewriter ever didn't have the number one on it--just 2 thru zero. I think they assumed that the lowercase L could double for the 1.

[qnr]

23. Yeah, I was thinking of that too, but most sans serif was used for headings, whereas

the body with the text with more density would be in serif.

[Dr Morbius]

19. Well, you know all about "you", don'tcha?

Or so I have read, anyway.

You used to be thou, or thee, depending on the form of speech. The "th" in the word is a dipthong, and one of the ways to symbolize this dipthong looks a lot like a lower-case "y", especially in a printing press. That's how thou became you. And I suspect it's how the upper case went away from the second person.

[Bucky]

20. In Spanish "yo" is not capitalized but "Usted" is.

I think the pronoun I is capitalized so that everything written in the English language doesn't look like emo teenaged angst poetry.

But more importantly, why do we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?

[stray cat]

25. I is the same as using your name as it doesn't describe someone else or is vague?

[Sanity Claws]

26. In German, the formal you (Sie) is capitalized

and the I (ich) is not capitalized.

Yes, I think that English's capitalizing "I" reveals something about the culture from which the language sprang.