Cas or Cass?

[oselle]

I need your help.

I've started spelling the abbreviation of Castiel's name as "Cass" because on the show Dean seems to pronounce it with a much softer "s" than he did last season. Personally I still think any abbreviation sounds weird as long as Castiel's still an angel but it works perfectly for "The End" fic. But which is it? "Cas" looks oddly truncated to me somehow, and I feel like it should be pronounced "Caz" which is not how Dean pronounces it. But no one else spells it "Cass" except me. What do you think? Does it matter?


[Poll #1477314]

Comments

[twasadark.livejournal.com]

I'm all for the two of them going the distance, lol.

[tripoli.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if this were a text-only fandom and he weren't introduced by his full name, you *might* be able to make a case for the extra s, but since everybody knows what it sounds like, I'd just write it like you're shortening it.

Re: cass is for cassandra

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Cass could be anything. I tried reading some Faulkner over the summer and one of the primary characters was a boy named Cass (abbreviated from "McCaslin.")

[oselle.livejournal.com]

These days, I am too. Freakin' Ben Edlund and his freakin' suggestive hot scripts.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Okay, but it still looks amputated to me. Cas. Cas. I need to get used to it. It makes me think of the way people abbreviate "casual."

Re: cass is for cassandra

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Ahh, but she was "Cassie" not "Cass!"

[mangokulfi.livejournal.com]

Hee! I almost voted for option 3 but in the end, went with 1. I guess I kind of just adopted Cas when Dean did, though it still bugs me when anyone else calls Castiel Cas since it's Dean's pet name for him.

[mangokulfi.livejournal.com]

I should say when other characters on the show call him "Cas." Just like no other character should get to call Sam, "Sammy." That's such a Dean thing.

[tripoli.livejournal.com]

No, it looks weird to me too, but I'm still trying to force myself to actually use "Cas" in writing. (I am not a fan of angels with breezy nicknames. This is my own freakish issue and I'm coping.)

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm with you on the nickname thing. I'll only use it for "The End" fic, where Castiel's full name seems out of place, too angelic.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I totally agree. That's a Dean-only privilege.

[roque-clasique.livejournal.com]

I think "Cas" looks better, aesthetically speaking, but you do as you please.

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

Cast or Cash

:D

Just kidding!

[ariadnes-string.livejournal.com]

Cass makes me think of Mama Cass--though I expect I am the only person to make that weird, and yet not totally unpleasing, free association.

Despite that--or maybe because I like the idea of Castiel singing "California Dreaming"--I like Cass better--it looks more like a completely new name...

But either way is fine, really!

[tskterata.livejournal.com]

Because I'm used to seeing everyone else write Cas, Cass looks wrong to me now, although I can't come up with a good reason why it needs to be Cas.

Also, I really don't care how you spell it as long as you keep writing about him and Dean.

[nwhepcat.livejournal.com]

Totally with you on the nicknames thing -- I stick with Castiel, except in Dean's dialogue, and in "The End" fic. Because yes, he is totally a Cas by then.

To me he's Cas, though the S4 DVD subtitles spell it Cass. But I never let canon-ish things get in my way.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

i_o_r_h_a_e_l and I were just discussing about this the other day because I've always spelt it as "Cas" but apparently, according to her, it's spelt as Cass on Super Wiki transcripts ( I wonder how official that is? ). And it's also spelt as "Cass" on the subtitles on our local TV network. You have subtitles which you can turn on on your TV too, haven't you? Maybe you can check how it's spelt there on the next episode?

Personally I think that Cass sounds like a girl, when another friend used "Cass" ( you're not the only one! ) I thought she was talking about Cassie.

[smilla02.livejournal.com]

I'm going to keep using Cas when I write - only in dialogue because I love the full name Castiel and I hate that everybody in the show keeps shortening it. It feels true for Dean who always does that but not for, say, Uriel or Anna or even Sam. But it's canon so what can I do? Also I'll keep using Cas because everybody is using it and I've gotten used to it. But I remember reading some sides somewhere and the nickname was spelled Cass. Also it is spelled Cass in the subtitles I dowload.

I know, I'm of no help. I say you use the one that comes naturally to you.

[oxer12.livejournal.com]

From the first time I heard Castiel's name shortened on the show, it was always spelled "Cas" in my head. But I really don't care how you shorten it, as long as it keeps showing up in your fic. :p

[dnalia.livejournal.com]

The closed captioning shows it as "Cass". Not sure if that helps or not.

[ibroketuesday.livejournal.com]

Hi, sorry, just dropping in, doing some journal stalking after finding a fic of yours.

I always spell it "Cas" because it doesn't make sense to me to abbreviate a name that has one S (Castiel) into a nickname that has two (Cass). Plus, "Cas" just looks cuter. No idea why, but it does.

[simonejester.livejournal.com]

I know this is a way old post to be replying to (and I saw that you're not on LJ anymore, so you might not even see this comment), but I have S4 of SPN on DVD and originally they spelled the abbreviation of Castiel as "Cass" in the subtitles and then later on it was spelled "Cas." Personally, I like the latter better because (IMO) "Cass" with two s's is the more feminine-looking because of the name Cassandra. I know Cas himself, as an angel, exists outside of gender, but his true vessel is male and generally the viewers think of Misha Collins's body when they think of Castiel's. Though you're right about the spelling "Cas" looking like it should be pronounced "Caz." I'm still correcting my husband that it doesn't have that "z" sound and he's been in the fandom almost as long as I've been.