User:SnowyCinema/Improper capitalizations

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This is a collection of miscapitalizations found in various documents. I started this to clear up about the common usages of miscapitalizations and why they're done. It's like I'm researching for a linguistic essay or something. This is cool!

List of technically (under our guidelines now) attested ones from this list that I found

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  • Chernozemic; obviously, that's why I started this in the first place, needless to say
  • Chickadee; it's an animal. I've seen miscapitalizations of animal names a lot, well...ones that aren't taught to English speakers in Kindergarten that is. And my obsession with chickadees started last year.

K so I've decided to start with this one. Here's the first usage example:

Quote 1: from Groups, 2003

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[1]

"You can't have "Antiliberal Intellectualism". That phrase is an oxymoron.

An intellectual must be a liberal by definition - that is why all represive

regimes

generaly start their reign by desposing of the intellectuals :-)"

Comments

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This was an improper capitalization. Notice how all the other uses of "antiliberal intellectualism" are lowercased, except for this one. This miscapitalization was probably done because the title of the thread is "Liberalism Reviewed Part 5: Antiliberal Intellectualism", based on a book, apparently. It was still incorrect for the user to capitalize it in this case, since the reference is not to the book in this case, but to the term. However, this is a very weak example, since the miscapitalization is in quotations.

This is a good one. An unquestionable example!

Quote 1: from Groups, 2011

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[2]

Hi,

Thanks to great advice from Ian Macleod and Sue McGrath, I attempted to help out the Chickadee nestlings in the ant-infested nest and nest box in my back yard. I had a second, clean nest box handy, but I did not

have a spare Chickadee nest hanging around. So I improvised, successfully, I hope.

Comments

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Spot on. Can't argue. This is totally a miscapitalization. Booyeah! Finally.

Quote 2: from Groups, 2013

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[3]

Relaxing in our living room last night around 10PM, watching tv, a Black-capped Chickadee began flying around our living room! It must have gotten in through an open window earlier in the day when our plumber was soldering. It perched on an indoor plant and stayed for 5 minutes while we opened the windows, turned the inside lights off and the outside lights on. It worked! With a little coaxing, it flew out the window and perched on our bird feeder where it stayed until daylight. What a surprise!

Mik Oyler

North Conway

Comments

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Also miscapitalized black.

Quote 3: from Groups, 2014

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[4]

Becky Suomala and I found a Boreal Chickadee nest today in a large dead

paper birch snag located on the northeast side of the Caps Ridge Trail

parking lot (off of Jefferson Notch Road.in the White Mountains). The adults

were making food deliveries to the nest-cavity hole and were visually

conspicuous, but made only a few soft sounds.The paper birch snag is

multi-trunked and about 20 feet tall with snapped off tops. The cavity nest

hole is on the left-most trunk as viewed from the parking lot.

Comments

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They also miscapitalized boreal. Which reminds me, doesn't boreal chickadee need an entry? See wikipedia:Boreal chickadee.

Almost useless to my point since the term isn't rare, but I just found this by coincidence, so why not add it.

Quote 1: from Groups, 1998

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[5]

"He presses some buttons and a wormhole appears, Ike bounces through,

Stan and Kyle Drag the prone Cartman through"

Comments

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Why useless? It was probably a typo. The user didn't miscapitalize anything else that I can see in their fanfiction.

I remember this actually being capitalized a bit in some history textbooks. Let's take a good look at this one.

Quote 1: from Groups, 2015

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[6]

"Description: •Use global standardized processes and methods for prototyping and piloting PCBA's within the PCBA production area •Communicate and hold regular meetings with project team and others within Industrialization to provide feedback on design for manufacturing feedback and coordinate DMI's (DfA) as required"

Comments

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There were many other miscapitalizations in this as well, which I will also name here. Trust me, it isn't referring to the title. "Industrialization" is not in any titles. Industrialization is a noun, and is being capitalized incorrectly here. See what I told you? Nouns that people find unique, complex, or technical are often capitalized because of a misconception or lack of willpower not to do it.

Quote 1: from Groups, 2015

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New issue 152 by Hartmann...@gmail.com: bug when loading Lexicons via

LexicalResource: single Lexicon returned

https://code.google.com/p/uby/issues/detail?id=152

Running the following snippet on a 070-snapshot DB shows that the loading

of Lexicon instances via LexicalResource does not work properly:

[...]

System.err.println(uby.getLexicons().size()); // prints the correct number

of 'lexicons (expected outcome)

Note that all lexicons are associated with the LexicalResource in the DB

(lexicalResourceId="UBY").

Comments

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Notice how "Lexicon" is sometimes capitalized and sometimes not. Therefore, one of them has to be improper. I say it's "Lexicon".

Now I know, the term is commonly initialized, but I don't think it's an excuse to capitalize it incorrectly.

Quote 1: from Groups, 2015

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[7]

Requirements: •Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering (electrical or industrial), or Associates Degree + related experience •Minimum 2 years’ experience with PCBA Manufacturing, design or quality experience •Desirable to have Project Management, good communication, organization, ability to influence others. •Familiarity with SAP a plus

Comments

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Notice that the advertiser does not capitalize everything after "Project Management". Although, it is questionable, since he may be talking about a position in the company. If he's not, it's improper. And even if he is, it may still technically be improper, not really sure about that one.

A term that I imagine would be miscapitalized a lot.

Quote 1: from Groups, 1996

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[8]

I am a teacher of IT in a FE College. Currently doing an MSc in IT and

my assignment for this side of half term is on Technophobia. Have searched

the net and not located very much that is helpful. Are there any fellow

IT teachers otu there who can point me in the direction of good articles,

books, material, etc., on technophobia? Any personal experience?

Comments

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Notice how he capitalizes "Technophobia" once, but the second time he doesn't. It's a definite example of miscapitalization.

A medical term.

Quote 1: from the Santa Claus Saves the Earth (GBA video game) manual, 2002

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No link.

Playing video games can make your muscles, joints or skin hurt after a few hours. Follow these instructions to avoid problems

such as Tendonitis, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or skin irritation:

[...]

Comments

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You can see what other medical term they capitalized. They inappropriately capitalize quite a few things in this manual, namely in the Seizure section: "STOP PLAYING IMMEDIATELY and consult a doctor if you or your child have any of the following symptoms: Convulsions, Eye or muscle twitching, Loss of awareness, Altered vision, Involuntary movements, Disorientation." In this example they seem to be literally capitalizing every word after commas, which is wrong, wrong, wrong.