This definitely has its origin in the sci-fi realm, but I figured it'd go better in the generic forum since there's no specific story it's related to.
We've had Vulcans, and Borg, and Luxans, and Wookies, and Minbari, and...
Why is it "humans" instead of "Humans"? It seems rather odd that we don't capitalize the name of our own race?
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Humans is, I think, slang. "Terran" seems to be the appropriate term.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Probably has something to do with why our planet and sun have the thrilling names "The Sun" and "Earth." At least we broke out the creativity for "The Moon"
But more on topic, we don't particularly know if Vulcans or the Minbari "capitalise" (or whatever procedure is equivalent in their language) their own race name in their own language...or whether they even have one. For all we know, everybody other race might be walking around calling their own race a dull name, and we'd be the ones with a funky name.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Human" is uncapitalized for the same reason that "elephant" and "tulip" are.
Posted by Cartmaniac (Member # 256) on :
human = member of the family of Homo Sapiens
Solarians... now that has a nice ring to it.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Unless you've read any of Asimov's Elijah Baley novels.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Or else "Foundation and Earth"... Fallom always creeped me out.
On a serious note, the mention of names like "elephant" might make sense... except that not all languages do that. German, for example, capitalizes all nouns.
But even restricting the focus to (American) English, it's still an oddity, if only for the contrast between ourselves and the extraterrestrial beings. Heck, even "Martians" has been capitalized since the term was coined.
You'd think we'd give ourselves more respect. Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Maybe after we earn that respect we can start capitalizing the word.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Let me put it another way. "Human" is uncapitalized for the same reason that "elephant" is. "Martian" is capitalized for the same reason that "American" is.
As these are English words, none of it applies to other languages. In German, "Mensch" is capitalized for the same reason that "Elefant" is.
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
Snay brought up a good point. The term "human" is not indicative of being native to any particular place, it is simply a generic label. Whereas "Terran" or "Earthman" means "one who is from Terra/Earth."
-MMoM Posted by Daryus Aden (Member # 12) on :
As opposed of Hoomon?
Posted by Futurama Guy (Member # 968) on :
The Websters Collegiate Dictionary defines "human" the same way it defines "humpback whale" or even simply "man". The only time the H actually gets capitalized, is when you refer to humans in terms of the Homo genus or Hominidae family.
Martian is capitalized because it means "of or relating to the planet Mars". However, the term "earthling" [or "worldling"] is not capitalized despite being defined as "an inhabitant of the E/earth [or a person engrossed in the affairs of this present world]".
So I can understand why the word "human" is not capitalized...as our planet is not called "Humus" or "Humania" and we are therefor not "of the planet Human"; what puzzles me is why "earthling" is not capitalized (at least according to the above mentioned reference)?? Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
It's also used much as an adjective, further lending to the noncapitalizing.
The swedish "m�nniska" isn't capitalized either, I doubt if any language does it.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I don't know why they wouldn't have capitalized "Earthling". If it's from the proper noun "Earth", it should be capitalized. Otherwise, it seems to be related to the word "earth", which means "dirt".
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
So you're saying our species is dirt? Figures.
Human (uncapitalised, unlike when at the beginning of a sentance) applies to all humans, wherever they are, whereas Terran, Matian, Alpha Centauran etc. applies to humans from that specific place. For all we know Vulcans may have the same set up (although much more logical, obviously).
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
TSN: "Otherwise, it seems to be related to the word "earth", which means "dirt"."
Well, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. We are carbon based, Earth and earth do have some sensible connections, established long before people knew about atoms and chemistry, which is nice.
As for "dirt", let me tell you carbon is one of the dirtiest things in existence. Why just last month I got some black toner on me shirt when changing the cartridge on an office printer, that crap won't come off easily. *snarf*
Posted by Cartmaniac (Member # 256) on :
Yeah, it's a real pain to remove diamond stains. Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Although, last time I talked with a hewmon from anywhere else they were talking of moving back to Earth.....
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I hope you didn't try to wash the toner off w/ warm water. Heat sets it.
Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
Calvin as Spiff capitalizes "Earthling" (at least when the text is printed and not inked in all-caps), which is what I'm sticking with.
And incidentally, since the subject of foreign things-used-in-lieu-of-proper-language was brought up again: in Finnish, there is no difference between "English" the nationality, "English" the language and "English" the descriptive adjective. None of them is capitalized in any context, even though "England" is. All are used as if simple adjectives. Which is just as well, since we don't say our equivalent of "English" when we mean the language. We say our equivalent of "England". That is, "Englanti" is the geopolitical entity, "englanti" is the language spoken thereabouts.
Where we got all that is a complete mystery, since most of our pretense for organized grammar and spelling rules comes from Germanic influences.
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