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Can’t go into all the reasons the above is incorrect, but no: em is lowercase.
In brief:
The word em is the name of a measurement based on, but no longer dictated by, the letter M.Context and rarity clarify its meaning. It doesn’t need a capital, like it doesn’t need putting in bold or underlining. It is. We don’t need to gild the lily. English dropped capitalisation of all Nouns in Sentences just because they’re Names a couple of Centuries ago.
There’s an argument for preference, sure! Why would I care about personal usage? I wouldn’t dream of arguing the point if you hadn’t ‘corrected’ me with such authority in the first place.
Capitalising ‘em’ makes as much sense as capitalising ‘alpha’ every time you use it (eg: he was no Alpha male). Just because it once referred to a capital, doesn't mean it needs a capital. If it was about the shape, it could be argued for. Take the L.
Again, can’t believe I have such strong opinions on usage of em. Need to go to Nerd Nite, be among my tribe.
croggy-
Sorry, I missed this.
Can’t go into all the reasons the above is incorrect
No, please do.
but no: em is lowercase.
Yes, as I said. See above.
In brief:
The word em is the name of a measurement based on, but no longer dictated by, the letter M.Indeed.
Context and rarity clarify its meaning. It doesn’t need a capital, like it doesn’t need putting in bold or underlining. It is. We don’t need to gild the lily. English dropped capitalisation of all Nouns in Sentences just because they’re Names a couple of Centuries ago.
I'm not sure I understand in what way this is meant to be an argument. Plenty of names and specific nouns are capitalised in English. This is often to clarify different usages of the same word, e.g. 'the Bible' or 'the bible of the XYZ movement'. Part of the misunderstanding here seems to be the assumption on your part that just because something doesn't 'need' something, it shouldn't have it? I don't think I can really work out what you meant to mean, though.
There’s an argument for preference, sure! Why would I care about personal usage? I wouldn’t dream of arguing the point if you hadn’t ‘corrected’ me with such authority in the first place.
Where did I correct you? I said: 'It should always be ...' and that continues to be my view. A correction would be: 'It is always ...' or just the correct word/spelling/whatever.
Capitalising ‘em’ makes as much sense as capitalising ‘alpha’ every time you use it (eg: he was no Alpha male). Just because it once referred to a capital, doesn't mean it needs a capital. If it was about the shape, it could be argued for. Take the L.
It's actually a good case in point and very similar. I would here likewise capitalise 'Alpha male' and consider that better than lowercase.
Again, can’t believe I have such strong opinions on usage of em. Need to go to Nerd Nite, be among my tribe.
So, did you go? :)
Oliver Schick
And what is a circle other than a circular line? I rest my case, m'lord.
Well, the lowercase letter m does not have the same block size.
Yes, and more specifically, it's a name. It's a name that has recognisable components, but it's still a name. Obviously, the English word 'noun' comes from the Latin word 'nomen'=name, but in English, name and noun are different concepts. Equally obviously, there are different conventions for capitalisation of names; I've always found it interesting that there are lowercase usernames on here, and I observe the convention of not capitalising them, even at the beginning of sentences. Some names have capitals on every component, and some have a mix, e.g. Transport for London.
The Em dash is not the measurement unit, the em is. Not sure what you were driving at there.
I'm well aware of general usage, but both variants are in use. In my opinion, 'Em dash' and 'En dash' are clearer and better. They still contain the idea that the dashes are derived from the measurement unit, but clarify that they are different from the unit.
Don't worry about losing the room, unless you go to Nerd Nite, in which case you don't have to worry about losing the room, either. (NB I've never been, nor have I been to Dorkbot, although I have been to GeekstraVEGANza. I thought I'd clarify this.)