Blog
9/17/2007
Somehow, somewhere along the way, people started capitalizing instead of bolding or italicizing words for emphasis. Am I the only one who finds this annoying and distracting?
I cannot tell you how many otherwise smart and intelligent people I know violate the rules of capitalization. While perhaps they're not purposely breaking the rules, when called out on it, they insist that it makes sense and helps readers understand when they're reading something important. Yes, their motives are pure, but it drives me nuts.
If you don't already know, I'm an editor by day, so I am likely more sensitive to this issue than most. The funny thing about this particular grammatical error is that frequently people object when I edit a document to remove these "mindless capitalizations," even when I explain to them that it is grammatically incorrect. If I correct "their" vs "they're" or "your" vs "you're" they thank me for catching their errors. But somehow they think that capitalization is a sign of respect and value.
Here's a cheat sheet for you all. Obviously, there are more rules, but these, in my opinion are the most abused.
Yes, you should capitalize:
- Proper nouns (examples, John Smith, City of Sacramento)
- A person's title when it precedes the name (example, Vice President of Bull Shit, Joe Schmoe, or Joe Schmoe, vice president of bull shit, NOT Joe Schmoe, Vice President of Bull Shit)
- Government officials' titles when used with their names (example, Governor Schwarzenegger or the governor, NOT the Governor)
No, you should not capitalize:- A person's title when it follows the name (example, Joe Schmoe, vice president of bull shit)
- Titles of government officials when used without their name (example, the president, NOT the President)
- A word or words you want to emphasize (that's what bold, underline, and italics are for...but preferably not all three!)
Labels: Pet Peeves
5/20/2007
A few months ago, Bryan and I decided to consolidate our various websites under one hosting account. That would mean upgrading to an account that would allow us to host more than one domain. We looked around and decided to go with GoDaddy's "Deluxe" account, which for $6.99 a month comes with 100 gigs of storage, 1000 gigs of bandwidth, unlimited domains and subdomains, and 1000 emails. Sounds good, right?
Well, I upgraded my account to the deluxe package and in preparation for the transfer of my main site...the one you're viewing now...I went in to set up the email account. Since I use my katgal.com email as my primary email, I couldn't afford to have any downtime. That's when I found out their dirty secret: Those "1,000" emails can only be on the main domain, any "add on" domains didn't get their own email accounts. So, if Bryan wanted to keep his boroski.com email (which he uses as his primary email), we'd have to pay an additional $20 a year. And that's just for boroski.com. If we then wanted to set up email for our other domains, we'd have to pay another $20 a year for each domain.
BULLSHIT!
So, I contacted GoDaddy to express my frustration. And their response? They'll pass on my suggestion to their developers. I said I would take my business elsewhere, and they didn't even bat an eyelash. No apology for their (intentionally) misleading marketing materials and product descriptions. I know GoDaddy is often criticized for its horrible customer service, but I was shocked at their disinterest in keeping me as a customer.
I have not yet canceled my GoDaddy account, as I'm still migrating my other sites to the new host, so I don't yet know if they'll actually give me my $$ back. To save a whopping $10, I payed for 2 years of hosting up front. You can rest assured I won't do that again.
In case you're wondering, my new host is HostGator. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well. Wish me luck.
Labels: Pet Peeves
4/09/2007
I don't normally do this, but I'm having one of those days. I will admit that I'm easily annoyed, but there are just some things I don't understand:
Phone Eaters: Why do people think it's OK to eat while on the phone? Even when you think you're chewing quietly, those disgusting smack slurp chomp noises are just plain rude. If you're that hungry that you can't wait, please hang up and call back later.
Ice Chewers: Oh my god, please make them stop! They have a whole forum dedicated to the joys of ice chewing, and they even share recipes for the best tasting ice. I think it's time that you folks recognize that you have a problem. A very loud obnoxious problem. I just don't understand how ice chewers don't realize how RUDE and annoying their habit is to everyone around them.
Gum Chewers: I myself like to chew gum. I'm not suggesting that we outlaw gum. But if you snap, pop, or chew like a cow with your mouth open, you should be shot. For those of you who, like my sister and mother, say that it's just not as satisfying to chew politely ... I have no words.
Whistlers: Ok, maybe this one's my own personal issue. But I want to kill all whistlers. Don't they know it's ear piercing and annoying? Here's a fellow blogger's take on it. I couldn't have said it better myself:
I hate whistlers. I think they are all not so secretly insecure attention seekers, who demand affection and interested notice from those around them in the most unsubtle and nerve riding way known to man. [from Blah Blah Blah]
Finger Snappers: I think of finger snappers as would-be whistlers who just don't know how to whistle. I just can't get over how on point Chrysalis from Blah Blah Blah was about these attention seeking types. It's TOTALLY true and can be applied to every single whistler and finger snapper I know.
I could go on...office nail clippers, open mouth eaters, lip smackers, loud typists, you all make me want to gouge out my eyes.
Whew. Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I feel better.
Labels: Pet Peeves
