LL-L "Orthography" 2005.07.26 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 26.JUL.2005 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: heather rendall <HeatherRendall at compuserve.com>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2005.07.25 (08) [E]

Message text written by INTERNET:lowlands-l at LOWLANDS-L.NET
>
> We learned: British people always had been aware of their very personal,
> specific importance ;-)!<

I think you may find out that somewhere down the line in past times using a
capital letter was merely polite and distanced the speaker from the
addressee. It added prestige to the addressee's standing. It is used for
God and all His works, Christ and all His works - so to say Your Majesty
would align the king on a similar high plane.

Similarly talking in the plural added respect and collective power. We are
not amused, said Queen Victoria and meant by that her and the embodiement
of the English/British people, which she represented.

To address someone in the 3rd person plural was extremely deferential: It
meant you were too humble to address them directly using Du or ihr. You
couldn't look them in the face - you turned away and addressed an imaginary
person to ask about this illustrious being - using the 3rd person plural.

Hence the German custom of using 3rd person plural + a capital letter.
'Sie' & Ihr' & 'Ihnen' expresses bowing and scrapping of the very highest
(lowest?) order.

Heather

PS You can understand from the above the egalitarian benefit of just having
'you' to do all this 2nd person singular/plural/polite stuff.

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From: heather rendall <HeatherRendall at compuserve.com>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2005.07.25 (05) [E]

Message text written by INTERNET:lowlands-l at LOWLANDS-L.NET
>English speakers find it very
strange if you capitalize those words anywhere other than at the beginning
of a sentence or in a title. <

Unless of course you are a reader of A A Milne and Winnie the Pooh

In which case you will know that is is very IMPORTANT and very  MEANINGFUL
to say certain things in capital letters.

And when Pooh is feeling a LIITLE  hungry  or Piglet is feeling a little
SAD, then Mr Milne would emphasise the fact with capital letters.

Which is a GOOD THING!

Heather

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From: heather rendall <HeatherRendall at compuserve.com>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2005.07.25 (08) [E]

Message text written by INTERNET:lowlands-l at LOWLANDS-L.NET
>(I don't know how she'd react to "Mrs. Batterberg," which would
be her name had it not been for the family's name change due to needing to
cover their German descent in wartimes.) <

Don't want to be too pedantic BUT...............

Battenberg is Prince Philip's surname  changed in WW1 to Mountbatten. It
has apparently been a grouse of his that his children have the surname
Windsor and not Mountbatten.

The surname of the Royal family ought to be that of Prince Albert as he
would have been the last male married into the royal line - so
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ought to be the surname. However it is always spoken of
as being Guelph-Hohenzollern - + something else. Does this come from the
Hannoverians?

During WW1 George V changed it to Wiindsor.

heather

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Orthography

Thanks for the clarification, Heather, and sorry about having misspelled 
"Battenberg" as "Batterberg."

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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