Or, You Don’t Know Jack…
I once read some emails on the Innertubes authored by MoDo, AKA Maureen Dowd, notorious columnist for the New York Times. Dowd is an intelligent woman and a good writer, even if I don’t always agree with her. She also, I assume, knows how to use capitals in her writing, yet in this series of emails she was apparently seized by the spirit of the late e.e. cummings — there was nary a capital letter to be found, even at the beginning of sentences. Was MoDo really so busy she didn’t have time to hit the ‘shift’ key? Or does some low-level wretch at the Times insert them in her copy later? Anyway, here’s one reason capitals can be important (and thanks to Val for this item):
“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 capitalization. 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.’ Is everybody clear on that?”
— Author Unknown
PedOncoDoc at Professional Soldiers offers this one on the use of proper punctuation:
“There’s a big difference between calling out, ‘It’s time to eat, Uncle Jack!’ and ‘It’s time to eat Uncle Jack!’ “
Okay, blame it on my errant youth, part of which was spent working as a proofreader in the days before Spell-Check.