…Aren't there capital numbers? We have uppercase letters and lowercase letters, so why not big numbers and little numbers? And, considering that there are no capital numbers and never have been any capital numbers, why do I always type *00 instead of 800, or 'on the !7th January…', or even more confusingly ££50.00?
I think there should be capital numbers, if only to satisfy my ongoing inner yearnings for them. It's only fair, after all – letters get them so why are we case-ist about numbers?
Equally, why is 'I' always capitalised? I vote for only capitalising 'i' at the beginning of a sentence, just like all the pronouns. I fail to see why 'i' should be singled out for this special treatment. Rise up, you other pronouns, rise up against your capital-ist oppressors and bring down this ugly, arrogant I!
I shall never use 'I' again. In fact, i think i might just start an anti-I campaign and attempt to convert all the good and the great to my cause. So, are you with me? Or are you for I? Er… for me? Er… no, that's not right… You're either with me or you're with the evil-I! Are you on my side or are you part of the Axis of I-vil?
Right, I'm off to take the cat to the vet. Oh bugger, my finger slipped…
Because a capital 'o' looks like a '0' and a lower case '0' like an 'o'. A capital '1' looks like a lower-case 'l'. the '9' like a 'g' and the '6' like a capital 'G'. The '5' like a capital 'S'. It is confusion as it is, and it's pure habit that makes it seem natural to us.
'I' is capitalised for easier pressing. That way, 'I' isn't mistaken for an 'i' floating around. 'Why was i in town?” Of course, now it looks like an 'l' – but it's much worse for a vowel to float around. Never mind that Welsh has the lower-case one: it's matter of choice. And not necessarily better, as 'i' also means 'to'.
btw: it's Axis of e-vil.
I prefer the ultimate philosophical “rmi?”
b.
Bram [ungwendil@yahoo.co.uk]
Oh, you're so… practical!! Think beyond the obvious to the true soul of the language, Brammetje!
I is a scourge up on the face of the written language and should be extinguished!! (That is, I is, not i am, obviously i shouldn't be extinguished, that would be murder, and we don't advocate such things here, do we now? No, i didn't think so.)
And there's nothing wrong with e – it's a perfectly innocent little letter which never did anything to anyone except possibly get mixed up with an upside down a which happens more often than you might think, particularly in my little dyslexic head.
It's just I i have a problem with.
Well, it's not my language, so what do eye care?
Bram [ungwendil@yahoo.co.uk]
Eye don't no, my deer. Eye'm just bee-ing silly. Nothing knew in that. 😉
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