Thursday 24 March 2011

Written Etiquette


In his most recent journal entry, My slave 457 was concerned about the etiquette that we use in this bdsm world we've created.  he was unhappy about the way that personal pronouns are capitalised (or not) in order to signify status, and how clumsy some constructions look when on the printed page, and indeed, when trying to fit them in sentences.  he had tried other ways of indicating respect, but English does not really have the grammatical structure for that any more.

I remember being taught as a child that God is always spelt with a capital "G" because it demonstrates respect.  I also remember learning that the ultimate in respect was not to write God fully, but to write G-d, essentially the English form of YHWH, for much the same reason.  Similarly, "Him" and "His" was used to denote things that the Supreme Being (yes, I'm having fun, now) had or did, and so on.

So I think that there is a precedent for the use of majuscules when writing the first letter of pronouns, and I think it is a convention that should be followed, in much the same way that I think that a slave should demonstrate his humility by avoiding capitalising the personal pronoun.  These actions very much become acts of affirmation, because they are done consciously.

When a slave writes his Master's name with a capital "M", the word takes on a very distinct meaning, personal to the relationship that exists between that slave and his master.  

Not all masters agree.  Jack Rinella, for example, is one. 

Where I think that it is unnecessary is when the writing becomes lopsided, eg writing "W/we" or "U/us".  I find such syntax ungainly because it interferes with the fluidity of the sentence, and instead of the eye recognising the whole pattern of each word, it is just irritated instead.   In this, as in most things, I think that one should be pragmatic.  I think that Masters should use the capitalisation with flair, and slaves capitalise references to their Masters where appropriate; they should also eschew the use of the capital "i" in recognition of their status.

In the early stages of obedience training I usually require slaves to go without underwear,  mainly to emphasise the difference between free men who can dress as they please, and slaves - who can't.  I find that trainee slaves' minds are concentrated on their status by the feel of sometimes rough cloth next to their more sensitive parts, especially if erections and precum or that last drop at the urinal are brought into the equation.  The dynamic is the same: being different to everyone else demonstrates that you, the slave, have surrendered control and are therefore not quite the same as those free people.

So that is why I prefer to use the convention.  Just as I prefer My slave to do so, too.

Just for the record, these days I deliberately write the deity as plain and simple "god, for much the same reasons.