Cummings’s publishers and others have sometimes echoed the unconventional orthography in his poetry by writing his name in lowercase and without periods, but usual orthography (uppercase and periods) is supported by scholarship, preferred by publishers today. Cummings himself used both the lowercase and capitalized versions, though he most often signed his name with capitals.

The use of lowercase for his initials was popularized in part by the title of some books, particularly in the 1960s, writing his name in lower case on the cover and spine. In the preface to E. E. Cummings: the growth of a writer critic Harry T. Moore notes ” He [Cummings] had his name put legally into lower case, and in his later books the titles and his name were always in lower case.” According to his widow, this is incorrect, She wrote of Friedman “you should not have allowed H. Moore to make such a stupid & childish statement about Cummings & his signature.” On 27 February 1951, Cummings wrote to his French translator D. Jon Grossman that he preferred the use of upper case for the particular edition they were working on. One Cummings scholar believes that on the rare occasions that Cummings signed his name in all lowercase, he may have intended it as a gesture of humility, not as an indication that it was the preferred orthography for others to use.

Critic Edmund Wilson commented “Mr. Cummings’s eccentric punctuation is, also, I believe, a symptom of his immaturity as an artist. It is not merely a question of an unconventional usage: unconventional punctuation may very well gain its effect… the really serious case against Mr. Cummings’s punctuation is that the results which it yields are ugly. His poems on the page are hideous.”

– Wikipedia

“HOW THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE …”
This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by The Open University.

I’ll google this in a few days and hope I can find a “legal” source for this wonderful video.

A wonderful 10 minute video about the development of the English language. The best chapters for me were the chapters about science (“Acid” 1626, “Gravity” 1641, “Electricity” 1646, “Pendulum” 1660, “Penis” 1693, “Vagina” 1682, “Cardiac” 1601, “Sternum” 1667, “Tonsil” 1601) and words from other languages (Carribbean: BQQ, canoe, cannibal; India: stairs, bungalow; Africa: voodoo, zombie; Australia: walkaround, nugget; Holland: cookies).

Good luck in Tansania, guys.

“Mit dem Gerundivum [des Verbs propagare] wurde von Papst Gregor XV. im Jahre 1622 eine kirchliche Kongregation namens Sancta congregatio de propaganda fide geschaffen, deren Zweck es war, dem Protestantismus entgegen zu treten sowie die Neue Welt zu missionieren. Abgeleitet von der Bezeichnung dieser Organisation wurde der Ausdruck Propaganda in die meisten Sprachen übernommen.
Der Club de la propagande, eine Geheimgesellschaft der Jakobiner im Frankreich des 18. Jahrhunderts, wollte die Verbreitung revolutionärer Ideen fördern.”
—
“The English term [propaganda] is an 18th century coinage, from the Latin feminine gerund of propagare “to propagate”, originally in Congregatio de Propaganda Fide “Congregation for Propagating the Faith”, a committee of cardinals established in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV.”
– Wikipedia

Pretty insane.

(via Franz sources: yahoo.com & wikipedia (US Federal Spending) (German Federal Spending))