Using "I" As a Conceit
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson,
author of The Frugal Editor:
Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success
I don't know when I learned the word "conceited." I was raised in Utah where most of us didn't use "conceit" in the sense of an elaborate or strained metaphor but rather to mean that someone thought they were extra-super special. The little girl across the street who snubbed me because I didn't wear long stockings with garters (which was an immediate tipoff that I was not her kind) was "conceited" rather than prejudiced. The kid who was quick to make a point of how bright he was when I made a mistake was "conceited" rather than arrogant (or insecure). Gawd! I loved the word "conceited." I could apply it to so many situations and avoid learning new vocabulary words.
Of course, in a culture where being extra-super humble was valued, I soon noticed that our English language is, indeed, "conceited."
I'm speaking of the way we capitalize the pronoun "I." None of the other pronouns are capped. So what about this "I," standing tall no matter where you find it in a sentence?
Recently as I tutored students in accent reduction and American culture I noticed that some languages (like Japanese) seem to do quite well without pronouns of any sort. I did a little research. Some languages like Hebrew and Arabic don't capitalize any of their letters and some, like German, capitalize every darn noun. So, English—a Germanic language at its roots—just carried on the German proclivity for caps.
But the question remained. Why only the "I?" Why not "them" and "you" and all the others. Caroline Winter, a 2008 Fulbright scholar, says "England was where the capital "I" first reared its dotless head . . . .Apparently someone back then decided that just "i" after it had been diminished from the original Germanic 'ich' was not substantial enough to stand alone." It had to do with an artistic approach to fonts. The story goes that long ago in the days of handset type or even teletype machines little sticks and dots standing all alone looked like broken bits of lead or scrappy orphan letters.
Then there is the idea that religion played a part in capitalizing the "I." Rastafarians (and some others, too) think in terms of humankind as being one with God and therefore—one has to presume—it would be rather blasphemous not to capitalize "I" just as one does "God." Capitals, after all, are a way to honor a word or concept.
Which, of course, brings us back to the idea that we speakers of English are just plain "conceited."
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is an instructor for UCLA Extension's world-renown Writers' Program, and author of the HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers including The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (www.budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor) and its companion booklet, Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips for Writers: The Ultimate Frugal Booklet for Avoiding Word Trippers and Crafting Gatekeeper-Perfect Copy (www.budurl.com/WordTrippersPB) .The former is a USA Book News award-winner as well as the winner of the Reader View's Literary Award and a finalist in the New Generation Book Awards. She is the recipient of both the California Legislature's Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment Award and is a popular speaker and actor. Her website is http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com/
And she blogs about everything from wordiness to style choice at http://www.thefrugaleditor.blogspot.com/.
Thanks Carolyn for taking time to stop by and give us such a great post.
ReplyDeletei have noticed that in lot of other languages the reference to one's self is not capitalized. And while i DO consider all of creation is One and a man or woman is (when in an enlightened state of interconnectedness and God-Consciousness) One with God, i think that perhaps it is a bit conceited to refer to one's self when writing with a capital I.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I am a writer, proud of it, and I'll cap myself if I darn well want to! G'head on 'n' call me conceited, don' bother me none!
LOL, this is a good bit of trivia/history on a subtle aspect of our language, HoJo - I done larnt me somethin' t'day!
Marvin D Wilson
Old Silly, that is one of the best response i've heard. I'm still laughing.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn, interesting post. I never thought about why only 'I' is capitalized. It's the same in French - the only other language I know well.
ReplyDeleteLoved you're post, Carolyn, I've heard before that the way we use language shapes the way we view the world. In that case, English speakers are very ego centric (Conceited!!).
ReplyDeleteNot sure my comment went through - if it is awaiting moderation, then just delete this one. If not, then what I think I said was interesting post about capitalizing pronouns, something I didn't know. Thanks for sharing with us, Carolyn.
ReplyDeleteAnd leave it to Old Silly Marvin to post a good ol' fun response - lol. E :)
Elysabeth Eldering
Author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad, 50-state, mystery, trivia series
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Teehee, thanks, Martha! :-)
ReplyDeleteHey HoJo! Where are you?! Wake up, GF - I know you're out there on the west coast, but you've got fans clamoring for your pearls of wisdom over here!! (sly wink)
LOL, just funnin'...
Marvin D Wilson
What an interesting post. I never even notice that "I" is the only pronoun that is capitalized. Amazing how that might have come about. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Marv. I'm in California and have to have my cholesterol-lowering oatmeal before I start in the morning. Then get through 400 e-mails until I remember Martha and her great blog. Thank you all for dropping by.
ReplyDeleteAnd you want another pearl of wisdom? Before I've finished my cranberry juice? Geesht!
OK. Here it is. I'm in the middle of doing a second edition of one of my books and here's the pearl. It's a lot more work than I thought it would be. Mainly, because we tend to learn a whole lot in just a few years. Even if we were absolutely brilliant when we started.
Love to you all,
Carolyn
Hmph Cranberry juice before pearls! Where are your priorities, mah dahlin'? ;-)
ReplyDeleteAs for your re-editing, I totally understand. When I read my first books over now, I want to rewrite them. No matter how well they were written, and I'm not at all unhappy with the quality of my writing at the time, I can see where I now could make them better. Sigh ... Brilliance is an ever-evolving process, is it not?
Marvin D Wilson
BTW and PS - Martha - nice job on this feature post format and layout! :-)
I (i) always wondered about that rogue capitalisation and now I know. I can certainly sympathise with those early printers, who didn't have the idiosyncracies of MS Word to contend with - it automatically capitalises the I's, even when you don't want it, like in i-pad. Sometimes when I'm (i'm) editing it takes a bit of effort to make even the capitalised "I" clear. Thanks Carolyn for sharing a bit of history!
ReplyDeleteI always thought the capitalization if I was because in essence "I" really is a particular person - not just any person... then again so does he and she. Hmm. The wheels are spinning. Great post!
ReplyDeletei (teehee) learned something new today! Quite fascinating!
ReplyDeleteMarv, love that: "Cranberry juice before pearls." Gotta be a lesson in there somewhere.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you, Jennifer, for tweeting this! Glad you thought it would appeal to your followers!
Best,
Carolyn
Usage determines universal adaptation. If we do something long enough - whether it is 'correct' or not - and if enough people follow suit, it enters the dictionaries and becomes the accepted form. One simple example is the word awful, which in my father's youth meant something entirely different from the way we use it now.
ReplyDeleteWhat a really interesting article! I'd never thought of i or I...
ReplyDeleteFascinating! I hadn't thought about where capitalizing "I" originated. Thank you!
ReplyDelete