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Interesting fact of the day: When adjusting for today's dollars, the most recent president that wasn't a millionaire was Harry S. Truman in the early 1950s.
No it has the dot. I think you are trying to point out that S is not short for something, it is just S, which is true (well its short for two seperate names in one). But middle initials that are not short for anything are still given the dot.
Correct. It was really just an S without the dot.
His parents never decided upon what the S should expand to. Sam or Steve? Lost to history. We do not know.
But governments and media decided to add the dot.
I have been to his childhood home. There was no dot originally.
> Correct. It was really just an S without the dot.
To be clear this is incorrect... It was an S with a dot, the S just wasnt short for anything.
Single letter middle names that are not short for anything still have the dot.
Even Harry S Truman did not know what the S stood for.
Check these:
hXXps://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2012/05/08/sometimes-an-s-is-just-an-s/
Another reason the Truman Library also uses “S.” is that the library follows the guidance of the U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual, which states that the period should be used as part of Truman’s middle name, partly for the sake of consistency.
https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/trivia/use-of-period-after-s-truman-name
Several widely recognized style manuals provide guidance in favor of using the period. According to The Chicago Manual of Style all initials given with a name should "for convenience and consistency" be followed by a period even if they are not abbreviations of names.
I think your missing the point...
> Even Harry S [sic] Truman did not know what the S [sic] stood for.
I am not saying the S stood for something. I am saying even though the S did not stand for anything it is still written with a dot at the end like "S.".
> Another reason the Truman Library also uses “S.” is that the library follows the guidance of the U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual, which states that the period should be used as part of Truman’s middle name, partly for the sake of consistency.
Its not just the US Government Printing guide is the point. Using the "S." with the . is the standard way to write middle initials that dont stand for anything. It is covered in the Chicago Manual as well (which is generally accepted as the closest thing we have to an official guide to english grammar".
In short proper english (reaD: every style guide agrees) is to use a dot after a middle initial even when that name doesnt stand for anything.
When Harry used the S in his own signatures (he often left it out) it always included the period after the S.
@freemo
I agree on the style guides. Just pointing out that it was not always the case that there should be a dot.
Check this out and let me know what you think.
I am not seeing the dots.
https://missourioverthere.org/explore/monuments/harry-s-truman-birthplace-state-historic-site/