3 typing questiuons (questions for the smartest people here) ;-)?

[Dave]

1. Why is "I" always uppercase? (when alone)

We've all been tought that from elementary school, but is there any real reason? a's are not capitalized by them selves? (unless there the start of a sentence)

2. Why is y sometimes a vowel sometimes not?

3. # hashtags? All these dang foiled kids these days talking about hash tags. What in tar-nations are Hash tags?

thanks
Dave

[Samantha]

"i" is capitalized because it's a pronoun, although the same could be said for "me", "you" and "we" which don't get the same treatment.... i personally rarely capitalize 'i' because i think it's arrogant but English teachers would cringe at the thought.

[Bec]

1) It is because "I" is a pronoun used instead of your name (unless you refer to yourself in 3rd person). You capitalise pronouns (names)

2) definition of "vowel" in a dictionary and you'll have the basic answer. For example:

1. A speech sound. .. created by the relatively free passage of breath through the larynx and oral cavity, usually forming the most prominent and central sound of a syllable.
2. A letter, such as a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y in the English alphabet, that represents a vowel.

"Vowel" refers, FIRST of all, to a type of SOUND --one in which there is minimal blockage of the airflow. With a "consonant", on the other hand, there is significant blockage (sometimes even stopping the airflow completely, as with "stops" -- b, p, t, d, k, g)

The usage of "vowel" for a LETTER is secondary, based on this first meaning. Things are simple for a,e,i,,o and u because they are ALWAYS used to indicate "vowel sounds".

Y at the BEGINNING of a syllable marks a consonant sound (and so may be called a consonant) examples: yak, yellow,

Y elsewhere in a syllable (middle or end) represents a vowel sound (and so is called a vowel). examples -- the many words with a -y ending/suffix: happy, funny...

Our letter Y is originally borrowed from the Greek letter "upsilon" -- which is a VOWEL

3) # (hash tag, hash key, "number" or in the Us apparently pound sign) - more recently you see it on social medias (twitter) as a "hash tag" - no idea why. I think it's like tagging on Facebook.
It is also used as a number sign - #1 means number 1.
In the US it is used rather than lb (weight) for pound (not the £ that we would immediatly think of).