From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,8d472879e3f609e0 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-06-04 06:46:29 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail From: jimmaureenrogers@worldnet.att.net (Jim Rogers) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Case sensitivity (was Re: no title) Date: 4 Jun 2003 06:46:28 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Message-ID: <82347202.0306040546.34773e3@posting.google.com> References: <0vGdnQFmVPoZj0Gj4p2dnA@gbronline.com> <1054647054.761122@master.nyc.kbcfp.com> <1054651042.211055@master.nyc.kbcfp.com> <0egDa.45243$fT5.9340@nwrdny01.gnilink.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.194.156.4 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1054734389 14604 127.0.0.1 (4 Jun 2003 13:46:29 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 4 Jun 2003 13:46:29 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:38596 Date: 2003-06-04T13:46:29+00:00 List-Id: Hyman Rosen wrote in message news:<0egDa.45243$fT5.9340@nwrdny01.gnilink.net>... > James Rogers wrote: > > In English the meaning of words does not change because of case. > > That is not true, since English encompasses proper nouns. > The words "Polish" and "polish" are quite different. Also, > written English, especially technical writing, can include > capitalized acronyms which mean something different than > the equivalent lower case word. And do I have to remind > you how often people on this newsgroup complain when they > see someone refer to ADA instead of Ada? Besides "Polish" and "polish" you will find few exceptions. Strictly speaking, acronyms are not English. They are technical terms relating to a narrow discipline. The basic linguistic structure of English is the word. Acronyms are not words. Acronyms are abbreviations for phrases. The exception you mentioned for "Polish" and "polish" has some interesting roots. Historically speaking, English develops primarily as a spoken language. In fact, until the 19th Century there was no standardized spelling for English. Andrew Jackson is quoted as saying "I don't give a damn for a man who cannot spell a word at least two different ways." The result is that English has very inconsistent spelling rules. When Webster published his dictionary he somewhat arbitrarily chose spelling for words. He did not first develop a consistent set of spelling rules. Note that different dialects of English still disagree on spelling. In England "organisation" is spelled differently than in the United States ("organization"). Jim Rogers