Capitalization Protocol

I started using upper and lowercase when writing your name because it was fun to mess around with the different aspects. Also I noticed you were Capitalizing Dom/Domme, so I wasn’t really sure what you thought of it.

I don’t really care one way or the other, I do remember that once I signed up to a D/s message board with an all lowercase name and I asked a moderator to change it because by everyonelse’s protocol I looked like I was pushing myself as a slave! ;)

I like playing with Capitalization, but I don’t take it very seriously.

Ooh, I think I take this a bit TOO seriously because of all my blasted education. It just becomes distracting! Especially when the message is long and involved. I sometimes wish I was as laid back about it as Alexandra. Alas, I’m a grammar snob. Well, most of the time anyway.

I have a bit of the same bias you do: it looks illiterate.

It is only when people treat it as some sort of profound interpersonal protocol that I feel strongly put off.

Natually, I’m happy with Alexandra treating my name however she wishes.

I think you nailed it on the head. Personally I always found the capitalization-nazis ridiculous - I like to be dominated, not being reminded of some made-up grammar rule.

Don’t even get me started about the ones that write ‘mistress’ and ‘she’ in ALL CAPS.

I tend to think that the ‘women’ who go for all caps are either really men or women who are hoping to make bucks from submissive men.

A true Domina has a richer, deeper agenda.

“i” began using lower case letters pretty much as routine (with a few exceptions - such as official correspondence)for reasons having nothing to do with “Dominant/submissive”.

However, as i have evolved in my philosophical and actual transformation in my enlightenment in “Female Supremacy”, it has become almost automatic for me to use the lower case “i” always, regardless of whom (or Whom) i happen to be addressing when referring to myself. in fact it takes a special effort now to make the adjustment when writing formal offical letters or writings which require conformity to the “popular usage”.

as a matter of fact though, “i” feel honored and privileged to use the small “i” … it reminds me of my own status as well as the stature of “all Women”.

if it was ever “affected or an affectation” it isn’t so for me now … it is just “me”.

Honestly I cannot imagine assigning a status to all dominants whatever their gender.

And I do think male dominants are as legitimate as females.

For me a dominant has to earn my submission from more than a title or biology.

But I do think submissive persons should do whatever gives them the greatest sense of their desired role.

If I were involved with someone for whom the capitalization protocol was important I’d become “i.”

But it wouldn’t make me respect Her or Him a bit more.

Right!

I’m active on several web groups that focus on male chastity. I’m always amused at the men who, in response to a post by a woman - ANY woman - fall all over themselves to assign some kind of fem-superiority status, including the silliness with the Capital/lowecase letters.

I’ve had discussions with some men who have become very insulted that I did not “address” them properly (I failed to lowercase their names). I’ve had people who have /insisted/ on addressing me in lowercase because, since I wear a CB3000, then I must be a sub (and note the implication: subs are always lowercased).

I think that this comes from the Gorean folk who’ve built up this incredibly detailed mythology and subculture. You’ve got to admire that kind of perserverance, but it never fails to crack me up when one group of kinksters has such a lack of tolerance for those who don’t play along.

I try to remember to address guys who use lowercase names the way they prefer. Just seems polite.

But on a forum when people start addressing me as richard I feel irked: it is bad manners.

Greetings all,

I receive messages addressed to anything from nothing-at-all to “MASTER DAVE SIR!”. I do not get unhappy at any of them. It is their way of whatever they are doing.

But I do notice. Proper Capitalization and lowercasing of names and pronouns is part of the game. If it’s a “Top” then it is capitalized, if it is a “bottom” then it is lowercase.

If I don’t lowercase or capitalize—as appropriate—someone, then that person has the right to wonder whether I actually am part of the community. If I do not know the rules of capitalization, then what else is there that I do not know?

I proofread when I read, so I do notice. When I see “MASTER DAVE SIR!”, I cringe. It ‘sounds’ like shouting, and makes My ears hurt!

When the person gets around to calling Me “Master Dave”, then I thank him/her for using My name. I do not chastize someone for being “wrong”.

If I did chastize those who are not yet My slaves, then what kind of Master would I be? Un-kind I expect.

Sincerely,
Master Dave

If my time in the community has taught me anything, it’s that different people have different preferred practices. Some people enjoy differently capitalizing words, and others do not. I prefer standard capitalization myself.

I drop the capitalization in sentences because i am lazy. I feel names should always be capitalized but then i love my own name beginning with a small letter because i prefer the shape of that letter. What really gets my goat is when people do w/W or U/u, what’s with it?

It just seems like an extremely courteous and overly polite way to express one’s great respect to Her. But of course, not if She says it does not please Her. Whether She chooses to use “Me” and “My” in referring to Herself is, naturally, not a question that a slave even thinks about.

The strange form “i” does look odd, though, in referring to the submissive. One way to avoid the problem is not to use any first-person pronouns in speaking to Mistress. This way, one avoids the question of applying “I” to an inferior being, and also avoids the odd “i” as well.

“May this unworthy dog use its tongue to clean Your boots, Mistress?” goes a long way toward setting a scene, without actually topping from below.

If a slave avoids all first-person pronouns (“me” and “my” as well as “I”), saying “Your slave thanks You, Mistress,” and so on, there is another self-abasing verbal form that can be used. Call it the impersonal pronoun: “it.” A slave, in this little inverse conceit, is not a person, but a thing: “May this slave use its tongue to lick Your boots, Mistress?”

All of this verbal self-abnegation works best if the slave does it without being ordered, but as a sign of its total submission to its Owner.

For Her part, the truly relaxed and assured Mistress should never have to raise Her voice, but can say something like, “Now, slave, you may crawl over here and lick My boots,” instead of barking out orders.

And, of course, Mistress never says “Thank you” to a slave (in this lave’s humble opinion). That would compromise Her superiority. She says, in the sweetest tone of voice, “Good boy, you’ve pleased Me.” Whereupon, Her slave immediately and profusely thanks Her for the hoor of having been permitted to serve, and the privilege of having pleased Her.

Little courtesies that smooth F/m life, and subtly flatter the One Whose opinion really counts. … and that doesn’t mean Her ……..

—-boot licker