public function safe_ucfirst($separator, $word) {
        // uppercase words split by the separator (ex. dashes or periods)
        $parts = explode($separator,$word);
        foreach ($parts as $word) {
            $words[] = ($this->is_camel_case($word)) ? $word : ucfirst(strtolower($word));
        }
        return implode($separator,$words);
    }