7-ELEVEn 为什么最后一个字母要小写呢？

前景提要：

It all began in 1937 when the Southland Ice Company brought groceries and beer into its icehouses. This idea was such a hit that these locations began convenience spots known as Tote’m stores. The tote part was in reference to customers “toting” away their spoils. The T in Tote'm was a totem pole. When the store was renamed, the word eleven through the number seven was a nod to this shape. The first 7-Eleven logo was over a green four-leaf clover which was meant to signify good luck as well as good fortune. 

这一切始于1937年，当时南大陆制冰公司开始在冰库内销售杂货和啤酒。这个想法在当时非常受欢迎，于是这些地点开始开设名为Tote'm的便利店。”Tote”这个词指的是顾客把他们的战利品带走的袋子。而 Tote'm 中的“T”指的是一个图腾柱。当这家商店改名时，穿过数字7的单词eleven就是对图腾柱的致敬。第一个7-eleven的标志就是是一个绿色的四叶草，代表好运和好运气。

Unfortunately the single lowercase N is just as mysterious, though the 7-Eleven spokesperson had a theory. When Southland president Joe C. “Jodie” Thompson wanted another logo without the four-leaf clover, he got an updated colorless version. The one we know today wasn't happening until 1968. What did change on the older version was that N. The theory is that Joe's wife felt that a lowercase N would make the logo look more graceful.

不幸的是，这个小写的”n”同样充满了神秘感，不过7-Eleven的发言人提出了一个理论。当时南大陆制冰公司总裁乔·汤普森想要另一种没有四叶草的标志，就出现了我们熟悉的标志的无色版本。我们如今见到的标志的样子是直到1968年才出现的。这次标志变化就出现了由”N”变“n”。传言认为，就是乔的妻子提出小写字母”n”会使标志看起来更加优雅。

根据维基百科，美国的商标法中不允许数词作为商标来注册，所以为了规避法规，7-ELEVEn在注册时，才把N改成了小写的“n”。

7-ELEVEn便利店最开始的营业时间是早上7点到晚上11点，小写n是为了提醒顾客eleven是指晚上（night）的11点。 

这种说法主要在华人地区流传，与风水文化有关。大写的N的最后一划往外，表示会将钱财散出去，而小写n更加“平滑”，且结尾时是向内的，像个磁铁，会吸引钱财和运气进来。