i am not a fan of double-dipping. i don't like it with chips, and i don't like it with language. meaningless capitalization is linguistic and semantic duplication -- and it's offensive.

while there are plenty of people who do away with capitals for the sake of hipness, out of ignorance, or with style as their end, i abrogate them in the name of efficiency, simplicity, and democracy.

capitalization is an inefficient vestige. it brings no meaning that syntax and perfect punctuation don't already impart. you know, for example, that this is a new sentence because a period finished off the last one. syntax and our limited sentence patterns indicate who is doing what in any given sentence; it's impossible to misunderstand the elements (subjects, verbs, objects, complements): 'tom made tammy a friendship bracelet' has the same meaning as 'Tom made Tammy a friendship bracelet.' capitalization does not give more meaning. it double dips.

capitalization rules seem arbitrary to the contemporary learner. there are no absolutes for its application like there are in German, for example, where all nouns are capitalized. in contemporary english, a capital letter contributes nothing to meaning construction; capitalizing doesn’t really merit all the fuss.

capitalization is also undemocratic. most notably, 'i' is capitalized while other subject pronouns are not. sociolinguistically speaking, this loads more importance onto 'i' than any other subject pronoun: 'i' is paramount, supreme, superior. don’t fool yourself that this doesn’t matter: the way in which we express ourselves informs our perspective on the world and our actions within it. capitalization discriminates. lack of capitalization equalizes. it's democratic.

before some of you smarty pants start crying foul, i am not in favor of completely eliminating capitalization -- just capitalization that doesn't bring meaning (which is most of it). for example, i approve of capitalizing a proper noun of which there is an improper one : i like cake vs. i like Cake (the band). in this case, the capital imparts meaning that syntax and punctuation do not. these cases are, however, relatively rare.

while i am philosophically in favor of removing capitals, in practice, it is often difficult to read un-capitalized text. capital letters visually mark sentences more conspicuously than ending punctuations. this is the only argument i can understand for the perpetuation of the capitalization system. it is also the only reason for which the sagb's entire website is written with capital letters. my personal correspondence, however, is not.

what say you? yay or nay to double-dipping??