Random Thoughts

I got to thinking (which is always dangerous) about a couple of the terms we’ve dealt with over the last decade or two (I lose track anymore) since the Internet and e-mail, and all the other varieties of electronic communication cranked up.

When it first got started I thought it was so cool that I could send a letter (old school, I know) with my computer. Back then, it was a novelty, so when I actually received a reply, that was even more cool. So, I saved it. Now, 20 years later, I’m amazed at how far we’ve come. I can clutter up my computer with e-mails as easily as can clutter it up with paper. Fact is, if I decide I also want a paper copy of the e-mail, I can have clutter on my computer AND on my desk (or the floor). And, if I decide I need to back up said e-mail, then I can spread the clutter to three places. Amazing.

Anyway, back to the original topic. I looked it up that e-mail (which stands for electronic mail) can also be E-mail or even email. I tend towards e-mail, as E-mail sounds too formal, and there’s nothing formal about e-mail. I don’t care for email, because when I look at it, I want to pronounce it eh-mail (pronounced “eh”).

Then, there’s all the iStuff. First question I have is, if I begin a sentence with iPhone, do I capitalize the “I”? As in this example. IPhones are cool. Or, do I go ahead and write, “iPhones are cool?” My initial, and strongest, reaction, is to completely avoid beginning a sentence with “iPhone”. And, yes, perhaps that’s literary cowardice, but I noticed that no one else began a sentence with “iPhone” in any of the articles I researched.

Now, as to what the “I” means, that’s even more unclear. Another article said that, according to the website Mac-Convert, it means internet, inspire, inform, instruct, or individual. Hmmmm…. First off, i thought that “internet” was “Internet”. And, second, don’t they know what it means?

And, now, i have e-ven more questions. Can an iPhone also be an ePhone since it is also an e-lectronic device? Or, perhaps it’s an i-Phone. And, why is the “P” capitalized? Was someone named Phone i-nvolved in the development process? And, what about YouTube? Why is it not uTube or u-tube or U-tube?

And, then there’s the other vowels. Let’s not forget them – “a” and “o”. Why are they left out? What did they do wrong not to get i-ncluded?

Aaahhhh! All this is too much for my i-brain. Think i-ll take an i-nap.