posted
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?
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Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
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.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
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.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Maybe after we earn that respect we can start capitalizing the word.
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Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
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.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
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
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Registered: Jun 2001
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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)??
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Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
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".
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
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).
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Registered: Feb 2002
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