Don't correct me when I don't capitalize god. He's not a proper noun if I don't believe in him, amirite?

If you're referring to a god as "him", then yes, it should be capitalized, because you're referring to a specific god. If you're referring to the concept of a god in general, then no, it's not capitalized. What you said is tantamount to saying "I don't have to capitalize george bush, I didn't vote for him."

by Anonymous 14 years ago

first off george bush is a real person and a real name. For those who don't believe in god, he doesn't exist....because the concept and existence of god is debatable it shouldn't have to be capitalized. Even if its out of respect, it goes the same that you should respect my beliefs in not capitalizing god, because i don't believe he exists.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Waldo doesn't exist, he isn't real, and his name is capitlized, just like any other fictional character. Don't go out of your way to belittle something like that. The only way it shouldn't be capitlized is if you say "I don't believe in a god" I'm not saying you need to believe, I could care less, but now you're stepping on capitlization rules that we learned in elementary.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Hmmm, I see your point, and it's a good point, so I respect that. But somehow I feel like pop culture and religion are in two totally different fields. What if I told you that I believe in a lord on different planet and his name is Julalarataba, but you don't believe that. Would you still capitalize it? Maybe it's just my stubborn ways of wanting to let people know I'm an atheist/non-religionist...but I just don't feel like that same rules apply or that I should be obligated to capitalize a figure I don't believe in. For me it's not about grammar but rather my own moral standards.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Yes, I would capitlize it cause it's a name either way. Even if I knew he/she/it didn't exist. But that's just me being stubborn and following capitlization rules. =/

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Ahh, okay, so we both have different views. The Stubborn Grammar Believer, and the Stubborn Religion Non-Believer.....agree to disagree good fellow?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Not stubborn religion non-believer, idiot. Since God is the specific name of a specific religion, you capitalize it because it refers to a specific person, real or no. Intentionally stepping on the rules of the English language is not showing disbelief, it's showing disrespect.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Yes, go about your way 'ol chap. I'll skip off into amirite land and correct more lowercase letters!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Do you capitalize Zeus and other Greek Gods? Although you do not believe in him, he is still capitalized. Same goes for God. He's capitalized because it's his name.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

actually i do not, and won't thank you very much. Grammar shammar these are my standards.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's actually not his name, it's more of a stand-in title. The real name of God, if you care, is this thing called the Tetragrammaton, and it's pronunciation has been lost and forgotten.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Where in The Bible does it call him Tetragrammaton...?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

"Tetragrammation" is not his name. It means "four letters." YHWH. It's usually translated into English as I AM, or subsituted with LORD in the Bible. YHWH has no vowels because people were afraid to say it aloud, and so they took the vowels out when they wrote it. Now we don't know how it was pronounced. Different sects claim it's Jahovah or Yahweh.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Actually the reason YHWH doesn't have any vowels is because it is written in Hebrew. There aren't any vowels in Hebrew, so YHWH would be written as Y'HW'H or skmething similar. You have to guess at the vowels, so it could be translated as Jehovah or Yahweh, or Yuhwih or any other combination.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

They would write the vowels as dots on the name, which were eventually dropped. But yeah, vowels had les importance then.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

*God

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Hmm. Didn't you just say that if you don't beleive in it, you are not going to capitalize it? So you don't beleive in yourself I presume considering you didn't capitalize "I".

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Well, I didn't say you couldn't correct me if I spelled other things incorrectly, but good try.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Actually, the line "He's not a proper noun if I don't believe in Him" is very wrong. I'll let you figure out why.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

No, because you need to capitalize the beginning of a sentence and I didn't capitalize "him".

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Dude, even if you don't believe in Him, you refer to Him by the name God. Key word: name. Names are always capitalized.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Yeah, but there are different "gods". "God" is also a concept, therefore, it's not a name depending on what you're talking about.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Okay, how about we go with this: You don't have to capitalize His name if you don't believe in Him, I agree with that (although I do believe in Him), but this amirite is a fail. In using the pronouns "him" and "he", you just MADE His name a proper noun (like chocolatecakeisbad said, names are, in fact, always proper nouns). So...your amirite is wrong.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Okay then: IT is not a proper noun if I fail to believe it exists. You're right though, my wording was not the best.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Yeah, something like "it" or "the concept" work pretty well to describe what you're trying to say...but all in all I understand and agree with you. Thanks for listening, by the way.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Yeah, no problem. I don't really mind when people correct me, so it's all good.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

"Him" is a name?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No, but God is. I choose to capitalized the word "him" when referring to God out of respect. That part is a personal choice. However, God is His name and grammatically must be capitalized.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's called a "Majestic noun". This comes from royalty, because even when royalty, for example, say, " So that is why We..." We is capitalized because it refers to a hierarchy and their doings.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

it's actually just used to distinguish the Christian God from other gods, especially since the other two major monotheistic religions tend to use proper names, Muslims say Allah, and Jews use Yahweh. Some Christians might also say Jesus Christ, or Jehovah, but generally they just say God. Anyways, yes most Christians capitalize God out of respect, but it's really just to help distinguish between the one God of the Christians, and say the gods of Greek myths, and like all grammar rules, it was decided upon by old dead white guys.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

-_- no, Jews do not use "Yahweh". That's a common misconception that come from reading one of God's many "names" (in quotes because in Judaism, God is referred to as many things, but never named) and pronouncing it. It's not pronounced or read like you would a normal word. It's just "Adonai." This yahweh crap isn't true. There, now you're a bit smarter

by Anonymous 13 years ago

"Adoni" is Greek for "My God" "Adon" means God, like in Latin, "Idon". "i" means my. Henceforth, "My God". Yahweh is used by scholars. Alohem is used by people.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Can I correct you when you forget to capitolize "I"?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Can I correct you when you misspelled capitalize even though it's in the post?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I walked into that one, didn't I? Yes, yes you may.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I agree with this post. And unlike people who have stated that "oh well then if you don't believe in yourself you should refer to yourself as "i" rather than "I," you as yourself is a REAL person just like names such as Brad Pitt or Hilary Clinton. God however is not a REAL person to everyone, and he only is to some people. You can't prove that god exists therefore his name shouldn't have to be capitalized.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I don't believe in Harry Potter, but I still capitalize his name.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I believe in Harry Potter.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I don't get why this comment is so top-rated...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I swear to God, my letter's late, and the owl probably just stopped at a gas station to fill up the tank and then it got lost... for the past two years...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

There's really no point in arguing here. Anyone thickheaded enough to follow that logic won't listen.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I can't believe this is in the positives. Even if you don't believe in God, it is His title and is capitalized. As for God being a concept...the Theory of Relativity is a conceptual theory, and even if you don't believe in it, that is its title and must be capitalized. And if you reply to this, I will direct you to my previous comments above in reply to anonymous. This is NOT for OP. I just like talking.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

By your logic, Santa Claus should never be capitalized either

by Anonymous 13 years ago

... :(

by Anonymous 13 years ago

"God" is the name of the christian god, so yeah if you talk about the christian god you do need to capitalize. Just as you would capitalize names of greek gods as well.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You don't need any capital letters in the phrase "a god" or "your god" but if you're referring to God, the god that Christians believe in, then yes, it needs a capital G.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Or if you're referring to ancient Greek or Egyptian gods.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Religious People Trying to Prove This Post Wrong: By saying that [insert fictional character from a book/fairytale here] shouldn't be capitalized either is implying that "God" is a fictional character. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the opposite of what you believe? Grammar Nuts Who Could Care Less About The Religious Aspect of This Post: I concur. It's disrespectful to the English language.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Jesus Fucking Christ! Just give it up people!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Wow. You are making atheists seem like stubborn idiots. Thanks, bro.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Don't worry, we know it's just OP. Well, and the YYA voters.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Whether something is real or fictional does not affect the rules of grammar. This has been said many time before, but I'll say it again. Zeus, God, Thor, Harry Potter. Doesn't matter if they're real or not, they're proper nouns.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I love your name choices.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

OP feels like a dumbass.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Phew, I thought this said "don't correct me when I don't capitalize good". I was about to go all Grammar Nazi on you.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That's the same thing as saying "I'm not going to capitalize Hitler, because I don't like him and I don't agree with what he did."

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No, that's the same thing as saying "I'm not going to capitalize Hitler, because he doesn't exist." Basic rules of analogies people. Basic rules.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

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by Anonymous 13 years ago

"God" is their god's name. Not very creative, but it's still something's name. Your argument is basically the same as saying that you shouldn't capitalize *insert fictional character here*'s name.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Does that mean that you don't capitalize the names of fictional characters, such as Harry Potter, Edward Cullen, Percy Jackson, ect.?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Do you believe in Santa Claus? Or the Easter Bunny? Or perhaps the Tooth Fairy? How about Mickey Mouse or Cinderella? Hmm, those are all fictional characters, yet THEIR NAMES ARE CAPITALIZED.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

As an atheist I'm asking you nicely please STFU. You're not right; you do capitalize God when referring to God, whether you are a stubborn tool or not; you're making us all look like dickheads; please, go back to third grade and learn basic grammar. Sorry if this comes off harsh. But when you're wrong, there's a point when you need to except it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

lol a religious debate on a website

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I don't think Canada is real, but I still capitalize it un-dork.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Whether you believe in God is irrelevant. It's like saying "Dad' or "Mom". In English you would write my dad's name is Dad and my mom's name is Mom. You can also have a cat named Cat, a dog and Dog and even a fish named God. And if you have an imaginary friend you could also call him Cat or God, but either way you must capitalize it as the rules of English grammar apply. If you don't know what a proper noun is then you are just plain ignorant.

by Anonymous 12 years ago