Copy Editor vs. BDSM Capitalization

[pantryslut]

I just had a mini-meltdown at work over the capitalization preferences of certain BDSM practitioners.

Specifically:

a) The preference for Dom/sub versus Dom/Sub;

b) The fondness for constructions such as "W/we," "O/our," etc.

I finally just started ranting along these lines:

"Those uppity submissives should just stop asserting their independence and allow themselves to be subsumed under the capital letter of their Dominant, already!"

Yeah. OK. Maybe it's time for a break.

Comments

[buttler.livejournal.com]

I'm only surprised the preference isn't for DOM/sub.

[imnotandrei.livejournal.com]

Drop caps.

Seriously -- they want to be back in old manuscript days, where the D would be properly illuminated with a picture of a gorgeous submissive performing some submissively act inside the D, with a flattering portrait of the dominant in Best Domly Outfit as the upright to the left.

So, a big drop-cap D, with the rest of the word "ominant" spelled out in small caps, as was done for the first line of the paragraph, followed by 'submissive' in the line below.

(Sadly, LJ does not have the text-formatting prowess to let me show you this.)

[mckennl.livejournal.com]

Your rant was about b), right? I mean that's just ridiculous. It should be We and Our. Adding another letter -- even one that's lower-case -- is topping from the bottom if I ever saw it.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

I ranted a little about a), too, but it was mostly just "Oh God. Oh God. Oh God."

[mckennl.livejournal.com]

Oh sure, GOD gets capitalized.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

:)

[elusis.livejournal.com]

See, I read it as Overinflated Dom Ego Syndrome. God forbid anyone else should get to be on their level.

I feel the hate FLOWING through me....Dark Side, here I come!

[mollena.livejournal.com]

Aside from people referring to themselves as "Dominates", nothing...NOTHING.....squicks my earbones and eyesockets more than that stuttery-ass thing you wrote up there that I will not even reinforce by typing it again.

HATE. HATEY hatred with hot flamey hate is what I feel about that.

GrrrrRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrr.

Re: I feel the hate FLOWING through me....Dark Side, here I come!

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

"dominate" just makes me roll my eyes. The capitalization thing? Makes me cross-eyed.

Re: I feel the hate FLOWING through me....Dark Side, here I come!

[whipartist.livejournal.com]

W/we C/call I/it S/stutter T/typing. T/to M/me, I/it's T/the C/clear S/sign O/of A/a W/wannabe.

It's also a really clear indication that the author thinks of dominant and submissive as ranks, rather than as roles one takes with a partner.

Re: I feel the hate FLOWING through me....Dark Side, here I come!

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Or two wannabes.

Re: I feel the hate FLOWING through me....Dark Side, here I come!

[mollena.livejournal.com]

I am seriously going to bite you, dude.

Re: I feel the hate FLOWING through me....Dark Side, here I come!

[imnotandrei.livejournal.com]

T/talking about my D/domination....

(P/people try to put U/us down...)

The Coroner Listed It As Death By ROFL

[ms-anthropy.livejournal.com]

Ow! You made my coffee go backwards!

Re: I feel the hate FLOWING through me....Dark Side, here I come!

[genderfur.livejournal.com]

It's all the internet's fault. All of it. Everything.

[goodbadgirl.livejournal.com]

"Those uppity submissives should just stop asserting their independence and allow themselves to be subsumed under the capital letter of their Dominant, already!"


Yes, Lori.


hee. :) !

[rosefox]

You have no idea how hard it is to refrain from forwarding this to our awesome copyeditor.

Actually, she might get it. *)

[alibi-shop.livejournal.com]

Well, if it's in an online medium, clearly plain text won't work at all. You need to use animation to show one word stomping on the other.

[imnotandrei.livejournal.com]

What is the future? I'll tell you what the future is, Winston. Imagine a D stomping on a lower-case face, forever.

[nitouche.livejournal.com]

This should be in metaquotes :)

Capital letters

[superqueeroes.livejournal.com]

"W/we," "O/our," etc.
The English major in me cringes when I see that in an email to a BDSM online group. It drives me nuts. I want to grab my red pen and scribble all over it.
Ellen

[elusis.livejournal.com]

You... REALLY think it's the subs having attitude issues there.

Uh. NOT.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Honest answer: I think it goes both ways. I see just as much "let me show you how submissive i am!" posturing as there is "I am a big important SuperDom(tm)" posturing. And when they get together, it's...er, an amazing thing.

Mostly, in my ranty head, I was aiming for the most efficient solution.

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

Is there some old-fashioned editing rule you can use and ignore everybody's neo-capitalizations just like you might ignore their non-standard spelling?

Chicago Manual of Style or something like that?

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Yes, but not when they write their own profiles, which I then have to read day in and day out...

[ms-anthropy.livejournal.com]

I swear, you have the most interesting job...

[(Anonymous)]

Hi there, I refuse to make an account so I am posting as anonymous, in truth I am shatteredsoul of http://www.alternativealbany.com (http://www.alternativealbany.com)

I wanted to make two very separate statements. First of all, I am a dominant person in the bdsm lifestyle. I frequently find myself telling submissives that talking the you posted makes them look less then intelligent. It is not W/we O/our etc. They are not proper nouns.

On another note, terms like Dominant, Master, and Lord can be. We have forgotten this in more modern times and changed our dictionaries because of that fact. In days of old, a Lord was an owner of an estate and deemed as highly respected. One showed respect by capitalizing the name. Also Master was originally a surname. As such it too was capitalized.

I think thats where it has been adopted from. One should do it to show respect. However somehow "dominants" got carried away with it and role player submissives made it seem like an everyday thing. I stick with my original remarks of "it makes a person look less then intelligent"