So much peace~ma for you, Askye.

Not always

OK. Now I need more information. Why is that?

(You see? Hebrew is so much more simple in those case. We don't have to deal with capitalization. It's all either in "capitalized" fonts (used mostly for publications of most sorts), and the "non-capitalized" fonts, used for handwriting. And they don't mix).

In good news, I get to see Sox & family this weekend. My DH invested in new balloons (for balloon animals) in the hope that Iris would ask him for one or two or ten.

Grins. He'd better bank on 10.

Well, I went to physical therapy this morning. Was OK, I guess. Worked on loosening up the muscles around my shoulder, because I've been tensing them to guard my shoulder joint, and I need to be able to move them freely before I can really work on anything else.

Why is that?

IIRC, you capitalize after a colon when you're using it to start a list (You capitalize after a colon in the following three cases: First,...), but not when it's separating clauses.

As to why, because somebody decided giving pervy schoolboys senseless and arcane rules to memorize would leave them with less time to touch themselves in naughty ways.

peace ~ma for Askye and Anna

I forgot to buy spoons and I'm eating yogurt with a fork again.

I guess my mind isn't as dirty as I thought as I totally don't get the 2-3 chickens and a cow thing.

because somebody decided giving pervy schoolboys senseless and arcane rules to memorize would leave them with less time to touch themselves in naughty ways.

Actually pretty close. A lot of rules of English grammar were invented when Latin was the language every educated European needed. So many of the rules were invented on the grounds:

1) That the rules of English should be made as much like the rules of Latin as possible to make it easier to teach Latin

2) That the rules of English should be made as much like Latin as possible because Latin was a superior language, and the more English could be forced to resemble in the better.

Actually, not sure that applies to punctuation. Punctuation rules seem to be more recent, as do standardized spelling rules. Which makes Amych's theory seem more and more likely.

Oh and Laga's question. The joke makes clear:

1) The Swiss lived in a cold country and wanted to go somewhere warm.

2) The Swiss were poor (hence the low number of animals)

3)The answer is phrased like a word problem in math for extra humor.

The "humping" part I don't really get. Maybe the Swiss were being accused of bestiality? Or the joke was implying that in a cold country you hump more? Or the joke was implying the Swiss were more likely to get laid in Italy, but that wasn't the reason they went.

Actually pretty close.

Oh, I know it is. I don't actually think there's much direct tie to the Latin-fetish in punctuation rules -- although that's responsible for a lot of the silly stuff that still persists, "SPLIT INFINITIVES" I'M LOOKING DIRECTLY AT YOU. ahem. But the history of education during the period when expanding access meant expanding codification of all kinds of rules is full of concerns about behavioral control, and not just getting your commas in the right places.

Umm, sorry. Sticky pedant tag. Damn thing never wants to close...

Shir, you're safest not capitalizing after either, unless the colon introduces something you'd capitalize anyway, such as a bulleted list using complete sentences. Theoretically, you capitalize an example introduced by a colon, but in practice, it's usually a matter of a particular publication's style.