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Subject:Re: capitalization of proper names From:"Richard G. Combs" <richard -dot- combs -at- voyanttech -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 13 Nov 2002 09:37:50 -0700
Andreas Ternes wrote:
> the proper name of the software I am documenting consists of two words,
> divided by a dot. The first word is all lower case, the second in capital
> letters. For example: soft.WARE
> How do I have to write the software name at the beginning of a sentence?
Is
> it soft.WARE or Soft.WARE?
Matthew Bin suggested:
> If that's the case (hah! case! get it?), I encourage everyone to read the
> piece "What's in a nAME(cq)?" by Bill Walsh of The Slot (www.theslot.com).
>http://www.theslot.com/webnames.html
>
> In fact, it's a pretty entertaining site anyhow and I'm sure that folk
here
> would enjoy it if they haven't been there before. Personally, I'm with
> Bill--you want a logo, buy an ad.
I'll second Matthew's recommendation; that article is exactly germane, and
The Slot is well worth visiting.
But there's another point regarding Andreas' problem that I haven't seen
mentioned. If "soft.WARE" is the trademarked name of the product, it should
never be used as a noun, only as an adjective.
WRONG: soft.WARE(tm) will change your life. Install soft.WARE today. It
requires Windows(tm) 2000 and Acrobat(r) Distiller(tm).
RIGHT: The soft.WARE(tm) file transmogrifier will change your life. Install
the soft.WARE [suite | program | application] today. It requires the
Windows(tm) 2000 operating system and an Acrobat(r) Distiller(tm) virtual
printer.
Yes, I know, this rule of trademark use is widely broken (Adobe, for
instance, uses Distiller as a noun constantly). But, if you use trademarked
names properly, as adjectives, you'll never need to start a sentence with
one because you can always precede it with "The...", "A...", "Your...", etc.
And the attorneys charged with defending your company's trademarks will be
happier. ;-)
HTH!
Richard
------
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Voyant Technologies, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT voyanttechDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT freeDASHmarketDOTnet
303-777-0436
------
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