s.ty.lized

So there's this thing with some stage names or pen names which, though they consist of normal English words, are not supposed to be written with the usual capitalization rules. For example, e.e. cummings and k.d. lang. Wikipedia calls it "stylized", or sometimes "typeset".

It gets rather chaotic in the Japanese music scene, where some English names are natively written in katakana, which is ordinarily transferred to Latin in all-caps. So it is not clear whether DREAMS COME TRUE or FUNKY MONKEY BABYS should always be written in all-caps (which can really be quite glaring), since it might just be due to the katakana representation. It is easier to figure out true stylization when it's all non-caps, like the brilliant green (which looks like just a part of this sentence), or when it's mixed, like HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR (which is still glaring). Of course, some name owners themselves are inconsistent about the typeset, like how Every Little Thing have named themselves in all-caps, all non-caps, and katakana, all in three different single releases.

I am the type to rename my music files when I find out I've not been capitalizing them correctly, so this is significant. =D Well, getting someone's name correct is a sign of respect (though this guy here does bring up a compelling argument). Capitalization may not be as crucial as spelling (say, when mix-and-matching Patti Smith with Patty Smyth) but in names like hitomi the lack of capitalization is the factor that makes it Furuya-san and not Yaida-san or Shimatani-san, while missed capitals on names like KinKi Kids could push them a step closer to distasteful misspelling (as well as land one in trouble with dedicated fans).

This string of thoughts came about as I was just getting all starry-eyed blissful-eared clickety-fingered watching k.d. lang on YouTube, and trying to put my finger on how she can sing the same song differently every time (a swell here, a shortening there, a few different notes once in a while...) without ruining the original feel of the song. Even when it's a cover, instead of performing it as a musical composition she grasps its story and just tells it, and with that seemingly effortless divine vocal delivery she can surely afford to improvise and still tell it flawlessly.

...Yeah, watch me ramble, but the point is, for someone as accomplished as that, I'd pay really good attention to how she wishes her name to be written! (And here's a pretty entertaining article on the controversy over the miscapitalization.)

But this blog entry would not have been written had I not gotten extra rambling material from the recent realization that one-north (the MRT station where my office is at) is so far the only station with a stylized name... except counting HarbourFront, which would not cause any capitalization dilemma anyway, for example when the station name occurs at the beginning of a sentence.

Now to close this entry, Happy New Year! (And this one I'm pretty sure is meant to be capitalized like that.)