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| Why Americans write devil with capital letters? |
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I know this blog can sound out of place; but every time I write the word devil or satan, automatically the red underline appears in my document. Few weeks ago a friend was proofreading an article and she told me about capitalize the word devil.
However this is my problem in Spanish God is Dios, if you are referring to any other god beside God, you DO NOT USE capital letter for those gods. It gives importance to the name of our Lord; And I believe the same happens in English…right?
When you refer to devil is “diablo”, and I don’t care if there are others “devils -diablos” you use lower case. When you say “devil or devils” are you referring to demons or devil is a proper name?
In case of the word “satan”, in Spanish satanás”, according to the rule you must use capital letter because is a proper name.
But I don’t care I do not “capitalize” him neither in grammar!
Forgive me for this blog…I’m just thinking out loud! Love you so much guys! |
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Eliza |
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January 30, 2008 at 10:46am |
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Interesting...... : ) |
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hahahahahaha so you are one of those who like to brake the rules! Funny! Now I'll feel condemned every time I "capitalize" him...hahahahahahah
It's funny :) |
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lol! fun to read!
It also depends on the particular Bible translation used. Most do not capitalize "the devil" but the Holman Christian Standard Bible says "the Devil". I think most people typically write "devil" w/lowercase, as in an everyday title (i.e. the garbageman).
Satan on the other hand tends to be used as a proper name rather than a title. In this case most translations capitalize Satan (e.g. NIV, NLT, NASB, ESV, KJV, etc.), as do most people I know. However if you or anybody else wants to reduce satan to a lowercase word, fine w/me! Just be careful, that dude gets pretty mean when angry! lol |
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| C'est très intéressant! I had never paid mind to it even when I'd get spell check trying to tell me why I should capitalize it. The diablo ain't worth it! I share your passion. I have had people tell me that it's out of respect as to not offend satanists or others who believe in the devil. Mais je ne m'inquiète pas! I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking this. *mua* |
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Jenily |
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January 30, 2008 at 10:59am |
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| hahahahaha Don't worry about that Mike! That dude has seen my Daddy angry too... I tell you he trembles at His name |
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| I'm in the same page ... I don't care about rules I just know the the LORD IN BIG CAPITAL LETTERS IN MY HEART!!! |
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Something to think abou! LOL FUN! :-) You got passion! |
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| Jenily, I'm with you on this one. I refuse to capitalize satan, devil or any other that is in reference to the evil one! |
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Libia |
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January 30, 2008 at 11:58am |
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| Lol!!! Funny.... jenita tu estas loquita! |
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Shellie |
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January 30, 2008 at 12:01pm |
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| I won't capitalize anything to do with him. Can't stand him and he can't stand me. |
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| MIke, are you trying to say that garbagemen are the devil? LOL |
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Deb |
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January 30, 2008 at 12:20pm |
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| This is something I have thought about repeatedly. I too have noticed that when I type the word satan that my spell checker says it needs to be capitalized. I don't think so! I will not give him and glory whatsoever, and I think that a capital letter would signify importance to his name. As far as I am concerned, he is not important at all, and I refuse to capitalize his name. Thanks for sharing this so I know I am not alone thinking about this :) |
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JessIAm |
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January 30, 2008 at 12:31pm |
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Actually "Satan" is a title, not a proper name. It's Hebrew for Prosecuting Atourney. "Lucifer" is a latin name, which is a translation of a Hebrew phrase that means "son of the dawn." We're never told the devils name in scripture. |
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Jenily |
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January 30, 2008 at 12:35pm |
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| WOW! Thanks Jess, that's a post...not the bunch of thoughts I dropped in this post…hahahahahahaha.. Looks like somebody knows what’s talking about…Thanks, now i feel "lowercase" |
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JessIAm |
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January 30, 2008 at 12:37pm |
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| Oh, Jenily, no one is lowercase in Jesus! |
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Jenily |
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January 30, 2008 at 12:41pm |
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hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! thanks Jess...
Trash can?!?!?! LOL |
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JessIAm |
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January 30, 2008 at 12:43pm |
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| I don't know what I'm talking about, I can just talk like I know what I'm talking about. |
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| LORD in all caps in the OT is for Yahweh, I use NIV but have never paid attention to the capitalization or lack thereof for satan..... it does bother me however that they do not capitalize the first letter of pronouns having to do with Jesus, ie Him, He, His etc... |
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| Come on Jess! Do not be modest, it was and excellent comment any way! |
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| hey folks, I didn't mean to slight garbagemen!!! I love em , we need em!! lol |
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Jenily |
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January 30, 2008 at 1:12pm |
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| Now I have to post another blog... What americans means with garbagamen,? it's just the word, a cartoon, a character, an actor? I'm lost again...Can some body put me back in game?...jejejejejej |
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| GarbageMen is a title from the English language. It means Men who remove Garbage. |
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| Or you can also refer to them as Sanitation Engineers. LOL. |
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Cheryl |
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January 30, 2008 at 1:23pm |
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or , I wish I could find a pic where satan is thrown into the can!!! LOL |
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Jenily |
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January 30, 2008 at 3:22pm |
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| Oh! Ok I got it! hahahahhaha now I understand it all!!!! I can see the joke hahahahahhaha!!! LOL! 2 funny...I know is late, but I didn't undestand b4 (now I'm going to laugh in Spanish jajajajajajajajajjajajajaajja) |
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| I never gave it a though and I have capitilize it but not to give him any credit just to get a point accross, belive me he does not even desver it now that it's been brought up I have to watch that from now on casuse it could be taking out of contexted. |
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| Do you guys still talking? What did I miss? |
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| i see it the way Mike&Laura see it; I never capitalize the devil, but do Satan due to my "correct" grammer. lol I figure it's his name. I noticed the other day reading something where Satan wasn't capitalized, and I wondered if there was some rule I knew nothing of. lol Funny. |
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oops, the garbageman seems to have taken over here! lol
= devil = satan = rubbish |
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Hey guys........... if i could give the devil something lower than lower case, I would !! he is so defeated.......... 2:15 [And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Jesus has won the victory for us. Such grace !!! Great blog Jenily ! |
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Jenily |
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January 31, 2008 at 4:05am |
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| Oh my God! I can't belive how far this conversation has gone! hahahahhahahaha...you guys are so funny!...BTW Do you sleep?...Love you! |
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Synthe |
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January 31, 2008 at 5:57am |
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| Wow! This is interesting. |
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Eric |
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January 31, 2008 at 2:35pm |
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God = the proper name of the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Also, we capitalize to show authority and prominance over us, from our perspective. I do not force atheists to capitalize the word "god." Worshipers of other gods, such as Ra will write "the God Ra" because Ra is real and authoritative from their perspective. god = any other god, such as the Egyptian sun god Ra or the Biblical false god Baal. Of course, they are not really gods at all, no more than nothing is something. Ra or Baal = capitalized because they are proper nouns (names of people, places or things), like Eric or North Carolina or the names of Chuck Norris' two legs: Law and Order. They are capitalized not because they are deified or shown prominence, but because that is their proper name. devil = suggests a generic noun, such as "an angel."
Devil = suggests the chief archangel that was thrown from Heaven. satan or lucifer = I'm pretty sure this is an error in grammar, as "satan" is normally considered the proper name of the chief archangel that was thrown from Heaven. Satan or Lucifer = the proper name of the chief archangel that was thrown from Heaven. heaven = can suggest the skies Heaven = the spiritual place bible = suggests "a holy book," of which generally there is only one by this name, so this might be a grammatical error Bible = proper noun for the Christian scriptures. Might be subjective to the author; my atheist programmer friend has a Bible -- it is his singular programming language reference. Bottom line: capatalizing a proper noun is just that, and shouldn't connotate that you are attaching special significance to it. |
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Eric |
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January 31, 2008 at 2:42pm |
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Also, back on Satan and Lucifer, as with many names in the Bible, these names have a literal interpretation. lucifer means "morning star," and satan means "adversary" or "deceiver." To call the chief archangel that was thrown from Heaven "the deceiver," nearly all meaning is stripped away, for you could have been talking about your ex-boyfriend! The same goes with the Christian name for him, "the Enemy." It is capitalized to show that this enemy is chief, different from Bin Laden or the bathroom scale. This is how the English language works. To lowercase the enemy or the deceiver or satan or lucifer is to simply introduce confusion in communication, which we get enough of when we try to be clear! |
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| Lucifer can't be the name the Hebrews used. "Luc" is a latin root that means light. |
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Jenily |
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January 31, 2008 at 4:24pm |
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| Thank you all!!!!!!!!!! |
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Grant |
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February 01, 2008 at 3:50pm |
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The problem with a printed dictionary is that it is usually 10 years out of date, or more. Language changes, and languages also are far more adaptable than some silly grammar and spelling rules allow. In most modern word processors you can add a new word to the dictionary. In this case just add your preference of devil (small d) to your dictionary. I hope that works for you. I do this kind of thing all the time, especially because we actually have two English languages, plus Euro-English and a whole bunch of subsets. |
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Cheryl |
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February 01, 2008 at 3:54pm |
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| I second what Paul said: he is so defeated, if I could give him anything lower I would!!! |
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Eric |
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February 05, 2008 at 12:59pm |
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In a sense, I agree with you Grant. Language changes with time. A few years ago Werner Gitt coined a new word for his information theoretic: "apobetics," which describes the sender's intent of the communicated message. But in another sense, I disagree. You cannot simply make up new words. spellings, and grammar and expect your reader to understand you, unless you plan on attaching a glossary to everything you write. Rules provide a common base or standard for understanding. As Christians, we should have a profound understanding of the importance of the Standard of God. Jenily, surprisingly, I've been thinking about this blog a lot in the past week. I keep returning to the conviction that it is best for clear communication that "Satan," and "the Devil" should be capitalized. If you'd like to throw rotten tomatoes at him (lowercase "h"), then write "the devil, stupid prince of this world" (lowercase "d" and "p"). Define what you mean by "the devil, and include as many insults as you can while you're doing so :D |
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Eric |
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February 05, 2008 at 1:16pm |
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| Also, euphemisms work as "common definitions" that we all understand. "The prince of this world" (lowercase "p") is understood to refer to Satan (capital "S" because it's a proper name) as opposed to Mutaib, Prince of Saudi Arabia (capital "M", "S", and "A" because they are proper names and capital "P" because it's a formal title) because that phrase is used by Jesus to describe Satan, and Christians are (hopefully) familiar with what Jesus has said. Euphemisms avoid proper nouns and capitalizations altogether. And they let you get creative with bashing the dog leavings of the enemy of our Lord (capital "L", for there is only one). |
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Jenily |
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February 06, 2008 at 5:19am |
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| :-( too deep for me!!! I'll read again it more than twice! Nice comments |
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