Mittwoch, 7. Juli 2010

*Uncapitalized First Words in Letters*

The differing German grammar and editorial rules have left my brain completely confused. But one thing that I will never remember is the uncapitalized word at the start of letters. Like this:

Liebe Michelle,

hast du einen schönen Tag gehabt?
To the American/English eye, the H needs to be capitalized because it's the start of a sentence, but to a German eye, the H needs to be lower case because "Liebe Michelle" is actually the start of the sentence. It makes sense, but a new paragraph that starts with a lower case seems so weird to me. I guess it's just the sense of tradition.

7 Kommentare:

J hat gesagt…

Yes!!! That drives me insane! It just seems so wrong.

G in Berlin hat gesagt…

And as an interesting aside, they have changed rules for capitalizing Ich and Dich in correspondence, so now older folks (in 30's) think younger ones are ignorant, as they follow the new rules!

Michelle Glauser hat gesagt…

Yes, but I have a friend who thinks it shows respect, so he still capitalizes Du, Dich, Dir, Ihr, and Euch and I've taken it up too.

likeschocolate hat gesagt…

My husband who is German got a big kick out of the German flag + soccer and also the sandals with socks. My husband wore socks with Birkenstocks. After 12 years of marriage I have Americanized him. Also got a kick out of the Missionaries who thought the toilet paper had been used before as toilet paper.

sommergarten hat gesagt…

No, that's no tradition. Only a few years ago you had to write:

"Liebe Michelle!

Hattest Du einen schönen Tag?..."


See the difference? ;)

sommergarten hat gesagt…

No, that's not traditional. Only a few years ago you had to write:

"Liebe Michelle!

Hattest (capital letter!) Du (capital letter!) einen schönen Tag?"

See?

Michelle Glauser hat gesagt…

I still capitalize "Du" in my emails. I think it shows respect.

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