I understand he capitalized his own name
July 31, 2010 12:02 PM Subscribe
Why did it become a characteristic of "sensitive" writing to use lowercase letters only? Is it the influence of E.E. Cummings alone?
I have noticed in some of my favorite left-leaning political blogs that writers and commenters often eschew the shift key. I'd like to know if there's an ideological reason behind this. Of course, people probably also do it because it happens they never learned to touch-type and it's easier. But since I never see Tea Party rants in lowercase, I expect there is some touchstone.
I have noticed in some of my favorite left-leaning political blogs that writers and commenters often eschew the shift key. I'd like to know if there's an ideological reason behind this. Of course, people probably also do it because it happens they never learned to touch-type and it's easier. But since I never see Tea Party rants in lowercase, I expect there is some touchstone.
By "sensitive" do you mean annoying? I think lowercase only is just as annoying as ALL CAPS.
I think ALL CAPS sometimes has to do with computer illiteracy and lowercase only has to do with trying to appear hyper literate, but failing.
posted by Frank Grimes at 12:21 PM on July 31, 2010 [5 favorites]
I think ALL CAPS sometimes has to do with computer illiteracy and lowercase only has to do with trying to appear hyper literate, but failing.
posted by Frank Grimes at 12:21 PM on July 31, 2010 [5 favorites]
Response by poster: I might add that I definitely see a lot of right-wing sentiment in ALL CAPS. Perhaps someone, somewhere, mistook what the "capital" means in "capitalism."
posted by Countess Elena at 12:24 PM on July 31, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 12:24 PM on July 31, 2010 [3 favorites]
The poet did it for the visual effect but mainly because he felt that "I "ought not be more important than "you." and thus his name was not more important than anyone else's name etc.
But the speed of the net changed things. Many find it easier (faster) to just plain type without use of shifting to make caps, much as the two spaces between the end of a sentence and a new one has gone away to one space...saves a wee bit of time.
another new convention of course is that writing all in caps IS SCREAMING AND THUS MOST ANNOYING.
I find myself shifting back and forth between conventional pre-computer typing and present (for some) usage, but then I am over 80.
posted by Postroad at 12:31 PM on July 31, 2010
But the speed of the net changed things. Many find it easier (faster) to just plain type without use of shifting to make caps, much as the two spaces between the end of a sentence and a new one has gone away to one space...saves a wee bit of time.
another new convention of course is that writing all in caps IS SCREAMING AND THUS MOST ANNOYING.
I find myself shifting back and forth between conventional pre-computer typing and present (for some) usage, but then I am over 80.
posted by Postroad at 12:31 PM on July 31, 2010
I used to type in all lowercase because I thought it looked cool and I was being all alternative and shit. It didn't have much to do with e. e. cummings, or being "sensitive" (although I am a liberal). I stopped doing it because I realized I was just being pretentious, and looked illiterate.
posted by Koko at 12:34 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Koko at 12:34 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
two spaces between the end of a sentence and a new one has gone away to one space...saves a wee bit of time.
Actually, it's only ever been one space, at least for published work. I know we all learned differently in typing class (and I, for one, cannot make that particular reflex go away). Maybe it used to be two spaces back in the bad old days of typewriters, when the only people who learned to type were young women who planned to be secretaries, writing mainly business correspondence?
Interesting thing I discovered - no matter how many spaces you type between sentences, most blog software (for comments or otherwise) reduces it to one space.
For instance. I hit the space bar five times between the period at the end of "instance" and the "I" at the beginning of this sentence.
posted by Sara C. at 12:36 PM on July 31, 2010
Actually, it's only ever been one space, at least for published work. I know we all learned differently in typing class (and I, for one, cannot make that particular reflex go away). Maybe it used to be two spaces back in the bad old days of typewriters, when the only people who learned to type were young women who planned to be secretaries, writing mainly business correspondence?
Interesting thing I discovered - no matter how many spaces you type between sentences, most blog software (for comments or otherwise) reduces it to one space.
For instance. I hit the space bar five times between the period at the end of "instance" and the "I" at the beginning of this sentence.
posted by Sara C. at 12:36 PM on July 31, 2010
I think it's a low-key (ha ha! didn't intend the pun but I like it!) way of rebelling against The Man. You know, The Man who insists you use capital letters, like your seventh grade English teacher version of The Man.
I've always read it primarily as a way for teenagers to say "your rules are stupid, i can ignore them." (Leaving e.e. cummings aside, who used unorthodox typography, spelling, and word order as a sort of "impressionist" mode of English writing.)
When adults do it, I assume laziness. If it's obviously a stylistic choice from an adult, it typically annoys me, since it seems like when I see it (which isn't that often) it's a deliberate carry over of this low-stakes rebellion against The Man, in lieu of actually DOING anything to fight The Man or whatever The Man is doing wrong. "The Man will never notice or be hurt by my lack of capital letters, therefore i can continue to stick it to him without any risk or work. my money is where my mouth is in the least demanding way possible. suck it, The Man!" But I only see it in a few places that share certain characteristics (petty whining pretending it's Real Rebellion TM) and I sincerely doubt this is the universe of people who use lowercase on purpose.
I've met a couple people who claim to use only lowercase to show humility, but I have to confess that annoys me somewhat as well, since it draws so much ATTENTION to their humility ... seems counterproductive if not actively disingenuous.
I leave out obvious literary devices by good or great writers, like e.e. cummings, because I think that's a horse of a different color. :)
And now I think you kids need to get off my lawn because clearly I have become an old grump.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:40 PM on July 31, 2010 [2 favorites]
I've always read it primarily as a way for teenagers to say "your rules are stupid, i can ignore them." (Leaving e.e. cummings aside, who used unorthodox typography, spelling, and word order as a sort of "impressionist" mode of English writing.)
When adults do it, I assume laziness. If it's obviously a stylistic choice from an adult, it typically annoys me, since it seems like when I see it (which isn't that often) it's a deliberate carry over of this low-stakes rebellion against The Man, in lieu of actually DOING anything to fight The Man or whatever The Man is doing wrong. "The Man will never notice or be hurt by my lack of capital letters, therefore i can continue to stick it to him without any risk or work. my money is where my mouth is in the least demanding way possible. suck it, The Man!" But I only see it in a few places that share certain characteristics (petty whining pretending it's Real Rebellion TM) and I sincerely doubt this is the universe of people who use lowercase on purpose.
I've met a couple people who claim to use only lowercase to show humility, but I have to confess that annoys me somewhat as well, since it draws so much ATTENTION to their humility ... seems counterproductive if not actively disingenuous.
I leave out obvious literary devices by good or great writers, like e.e. cummings, because I think that's a horse of a different color. :)
And now I think you kids need to get off my lawn because clearly I have become an old grump.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:40 PM on July 31, 2010 [2 favorites]
Ntozake Shange's "choreopoem" for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf is also written largely in lower-case. It was originally published in 1975. This answers.com page about it traces Shange's use of lower-case to Amiri Baraka, but I don't see much of it in these pieces.
Postroad's point about not elevating the "I" is a good one; it seems to me that often people who lower-case I want to appear humble.
posted by purpleclover at 12:45 PM on July 31, 2010
Postroad's point about not elevating the "I" is a good one; it seems to me that often people who lower-case I want to appear humble.
posted by purpleclover at 12:45 PM on July 31, 2010
Maybe (?) k.d. lang, who became popular in the music charts twenty-ish years ago while also an out lesbian and vegetarian, was a small influence toward a notion that lower case letters = Liberal politics?
posted by applemeat at 12:46 PM on July 31, 2010
posted by applemeat at 12:46 PM on July 31, 2010
It may be an attempt to show informality, in the same way a writer would eschew forming complete sentences, odd phrases, slang, etc. in a stream of consciousness model. The internet has made instant communication the norm; and if a blog or comment had proper capitalization and punctuation, it might reflect a very deliberate, measured prose when the author wants to project an "off the cuff", spontaneous style.
posted by meowzilla at 12:47 PM on July 31, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by meowzilla at 12:47 PM on July 31, 2010 [2 favorites]
most blog software (for comments or otherwise) reduces it to one space… I hit the space bar five times between the period at the end of "instance" and the "I" at the beginning of this sentence.
Actually, if you look in the HTML source of this page the five spaces are still there. It's not "blog software" that eliminates the spaces, it is your web browser ("user agent" in standards parlance). The HTML standard specifies that white space in the source isn't rendered directly. Instead, it is used to identify words and the user agent should lay out words according to the rules of the script the document is written in. In Western scripts this means either a space or line break between words, depending on how much space is left on the line.
posted by grouse at 12:47 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
Actually, if you look in the HTML source of this page the five spaces are still there. It's not "blog software" that eliminates the spaces, it is your web browser ("user agent" in standards parlance). The HTML standard specifies that white space in the source isn't rendered directly. Instead, it is used to identify words and the user agent should lay out words according to the rules of the script the document is written in. In Western scripts this means either a space or line break between words, depending on how much space is left on the line.
posted by grouse at 12:47 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
I don't use caps when IMing, because it slows me down (and I'm a very fast typist, and I touch type.). Otherwise, though, I use generally proper grammar/punctuation.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 12:51 PM on July 31, 2010
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 12:51 PM on July 31, 2010
I used to write that way, off and on, in my teens and early 20s, but solely in the context of creative or informal writing. I learned to touch-type in high school and knew perfectly well what the real rules are for capitalization (and would never have dreamed of turning in, say, a paper in college that didn't use proper capitalization) -- it was just a vaguely cummings-esque affectation that I shed by my mid-20s. So whenever I see it, I just immediately think "that person is either about 20, or is still attached to whoever they think they were at 20."
posted by scody at 12:53 PM on July 31, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by scody at 12:53 PM on July 31, 2010 [2 favorites]
My point, however, still stands. People aren't leaving off that extra space out of laziness, our browsers are correcting us per modern standards of publication. And, again, I'm not sure that any modern form of public writing uses the two space standard anymore, except perhaps for business correspondence not transmitted via internet and school homework assignments.
posted by Sara C. at 12:54 PM on July 31, 2010
posted by Sara C. at 12:54 PM on July 31, 2010
bell hooks does this to her name "to emphasize her message and not herself."
In the kinds of settings you're describing, I think it is either meant to come across as casual, and not "stuffy," or else to have some vague association to Art and artistic reasons.
posted by Ouisch at 12:56 PM on July 31, 2010
In the kinds of settings you're describing, I think it is either meant to come across as casual, and not "stuffy," or else to have some vague association to Art and artistic reasons.
posted by Ouisch at 12:56 PM on July 31, 2010
I always thought bell hooks eschewed capitalization as a way of de-emphasizing traditional authorial, well, authority. In the D/S community, many people use lower-case letters to indicate a sub role. There are surely other examples of using the lower case to be self-effacing.
posted by BibiRose at 12:58 PM on July 31, 2010
posted by BibiRose at 12:58 PM on July 31, 2010
Conversely, I would consider writing IN ALL CAPS to be a hallmark of someone much older, or someone who is unfamiliar with internet communication norms, or someone who is purposely trying to flaunt those norms for some reason. I think any of these could overlap with people who have a more conservative outlook.
posted by Ouisch at 12:59 PM on July 31, 2010
posted by Ouisch at 12:59 PM on July 31, 2010
I'm just going by what she told the NY Times, BibiRose. I also heard that she did it out of concerns about hegemony, though.
That, combined with the self-effacement or humility theory, could coincide with people attempting to equalize social status, politically, which would map onto more leftist politics.
posted by Ouisch at 1:01 PM on July 31, 2010
That, combined with the self-effacement or humility theory, could coincide with people attempting to equalize social status, politically, which would map onto more leftist politics.
posted by Ouisch at 1:01 PM on July 31, 2010
And, again, I'm not sure that any modern form of public writing uses the two space standard anymore, except perhaps for business correspondence not transmitted via internet and school homework assignments.
Nope, as someone who has taught college courses on business writing, I can assure you that the double-space-after-a-period rule is completely and utterly dead.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 1:01 PM on July 31, 2010
Nope, as someone who has taught college courses on business writing, I can assure you that the double-space-after-a-period rule is completely and utterly dead.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 1:01 PM on July 31, 2010
I sometimes don't use caps on Facebook or AIM. It's laziness. I do wish we just had one set of letters and no caps/lowercase, because it seems unnecessary and inefficient, and leads to things like Constitutional vs. constitutional, which I've always found annoying.
posted by ishotjr at 1:05 PM on July 31, 2010
posted by ishotjr at 1:05 PM on July 31, 2010
People's names and the pronoun "I" seem to be the real hotspots of the capitalization issue. If you wanted to ascribe political assumptions to the practice (assuming it's happening in some kind of more formal writing arena, and not just in email/IMs), I guess you could boil it down to lowercase = de-emphasizing the individual in favour of the collective, and uppercase = privileging the individual over the collective.
This is pure speculation though. I don't know if anyone has analyzed this or done some kind of qualitative research on it.
posted by Ouisch at 1:06 PM on July 31, 2010
This is pure speculation though. I don't know if anyone has analyzed this or done some kind of qualitative research on it.
posted by Ouisch at 1:06 PM on July 31, 2010
Ouisch, I cross-posted with you; I was replying to the initial mention of hooks, not disagreeing with you.
posted by BibiRose at 1:08 PM on July 31, 2010
posted by BibiRose at 1:08 PM on July 31, 2010
I think it also reflects low energy. Sometimes you just don't have the strength, physical or emotional to do more than just type out your life in lowercase.
posted by watercarrier at 1:20 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by watercarrier at 1:20 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
Long before E.E. Cummings, there was Archy and Mehitabel. Archy wrote entirely in lower case because he was a cockroach who typed by jumping on the typewriter keys, and of course he couldn't operate the shift.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:20 PM on July 31, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:20 PM on July 31, 2010 [2 favorites]
i do this and get picked on for it (which is really silly, i think). it's faster and i don't have to stretch my hands too much when typing in volume for casual purposes (particularly on the awkward laptop keyboard), which means i can spend more time typing either casual or serious stuff. i'd rather spend the stretch-effort for serious stuff.
there are times when i've made the stylistic choice regarding my name and "i" to avoid implications of "greater than thou", but that's very specific and rare.
Now that I have my ergo kb set up, though, it's not as much of a pain to use the "shift" key (or special characters, or even do fast math...blessed 10-key), so there's been less of the lower-case "I" and throughout sentences than there had been.
Seeing how many people get prissy about lower-case in casual writing is amusing.
posted by batmonkey at 1:37 PM on July 31, 2010
there are times when i've made the stylistic choice regarding my name and "i" to avoid implications of "greater than thou", but that's very specific and rare.
Now that I have my ergo kb set up, though, it's not as much of a pain to use the "shift" key (or special characters, or even do fast math...blessed 10-key), so there's been less of the lower-case "I" and throughout sentences than there had been.
Seeing how many people get prissy about lower-case in casual writing is amusing.
posted by batmonkey at 1:37 PM on July 31, 2010
Response by poster: I can assure you that the double-space-after-a-period rule is completely and utterly dead
Dang, here's something new I've learned today. I've been doing it since I learned to type in 1991 and I never got this memo. Since my field tends to prefer more archaic formats and usage, I think I'll hold on to it for now. (That, and teaching myself not to do it is going to be a battle.)
posted by Countess Elena at 1:41 PM on July 31, 2010
Dang, here's something new I've learned today. I've been doing it since I learned to type in 1991 and I never got this memo. Since my field tends to prefer more archaic formats and usage, I think I'll hold on to it for now. (That, and teaching myself not to do it is going to be a battle.)
posted by Countess Elena at 1:41 PM on July 31, 2010
it seems unnecessary and inefficient, and leads to things like Constitutional vs. constitutional, which I've always found annoying.
Well, I don't know what to say about it being annoying to you, but it's not actually unnecessary or inefficient in the sense that in cases like that, the use of capitalization vs. lower case conveys different meanings.
For example, if you were writing about political philosophy, it is substantively different to refer to someone as a democrat (i.e., someone who believes generally in democracy) vs. a Democrat (i.e., someone who is a member of the Democratic Party). Or, in the case of art: referring to "an ashcan artist" may cause confusion or a misunderstanding (is it an artist who literally paints ashcans?), whereas referring to "an Ashcan artist" is not. These are important designations to be able to make in written English, and the use of capitalization for proper nouns helps to do it.
posted by scody at 1:45 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
Well, I don't know what to say about it being annoying to you, but it's not actually unnecessary or inefficient in the sense that in cases like that, the use of capitalization vs. lower case conveys different meanings.
For example, if you were writing about political philosophy, it is substantively different to refer to someone as a democrat (i.e., someone who believes generally in democracy) vs. a Democrat (i.e., someone who is a member of the Democratic Party). Or, in the case of art: referring to "an ashcan artist" may cause confusion or a misunderstanding (is it an artist who literally paints ashcans?), whereas referring to "an Ashcan artist" is not. These are important designations to be able to make in written English, and the use of capitalization for proper nouns helps to do it.
posted by scody at 1:45 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
A bit of a digression, but since it's come up a couple of times: the "double-space-after-a-period" rule comes from writing on typewriters with fixed pitch (or, as we would say these days, monospaced fonts). The two spaces were a visual way of marking the end of a sentence when the period took up an entire character space. With proportional fonts, the two spaces are no longer necessary, since the period takes only its own width. And it looks weird with a proportional font.
posted by brianogilvie at 2:07 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by brianogilvie at 2:07 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
Well I think there is a pretty clear demarcation between two groups who do this:
1) Those who do it as an affectation when writing on paper. (My mother has always signed her name this way; never asked her why.) and
2) Those on the internet and cellphones who are just trying to type as fast as possible in an informal way.
posted by drjimmy11 at 2:20 PM on July 31, 2010
1) Those who do it as an affectation when writing on paper. (My mother has always signed her name this way; never asked her why.) and
2) Those on the internet and cellphones who are just trying to type as fast as possible in an informal way.
posted by drjimmy11 at 2:20 PM on July 31, 2010
for what it's worth, old-time journalists used to type informal notes to each other in all-lower-case, maybe as rebellion against the rigidity of the AP Stylebook and "Elements of Style." some of us still do that.
posted by fivesavagepalms at 2:36 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by fivesavagepalms at 2:36 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
i've typically done it because it seems to make my words more informal. never heard the being humble part, though. i suppose if that's the case i might stop.
posted by lester's sock puppet at 2:48 PM on July 31, 2010
posted by lester's sock puppet at 2:48 PM on July 31, 2010
Yeah, I find the various affectations like all lower case and the discussion earlier (I won't look it up, it was about words like 'welp'.) to be annoying. Problem is: when mentioned, they seem to come out of the woodwork more often. I realize that some people call themselves lazy, I will not try to put my own sticker on it.
My personal belief is that correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. trump fluffy pillows and ease of use.
Oh...
posted by Drasher at 3:03 PM on July 31, 2010
My personal belief is that correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. trump fluffy pillows and ease of use.
Oh...
posted by Drasher at 3:03 PM on July 31, 2010
I do it sometimes. It's just a casual way of communicating, which everyone does in both written and spoken communication. You simply choose different levels (like writing "you" instead of "one".)
Nothing ideological on the political scale, just the intent to convey a certain casualness the same way ALL CAPS convey a certain shouty-ness.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 4:43 PM on July 31, 2010 [3 favorites]
Nothing ideological on the political scale, just the intent to convey a certain casualness the same way ALL CAPS convey a certain shouty-ness.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 4:43 PM on July 31, 2010 [3 favorites]
much as the two spaces between the end of a sentence and a new one has gone away to one space...saves a wee bit of time.
Actually the single-spacing is done in this era of proportional fonts in order to avoid "rivers of white."
posted by jgirl at 6:12 PM on July 31, 2010
Actually the single-spacing is done in this era of proportional fonts in order to avoid "rivers of white."
posted by jgirl at 6:12 PM on July 31, 2010
I would blame bloggers' neglecting capital letters to laziness.
Also, I'm pretty sure e.e. cummings didn't neglect capital letters -- he used them quite a bit. Writing in all lower-case letters gave his poems more visual uniformity, and gave him more control over emphasizing words.
posted by chicago2penn at 6:55 PM on July 31, 2010
Also, I'm pretty sure e.e. cummings didn't neglect capital letters -- he used them quite a bit. Writing in all lower-case letters gave his poems more visual uniformity, and gave him more control over emphasizing words.
posted by chicago2penn at 6:55 PM on July 31, 2010
Also, I'm pretty sure e.e. cummings didn't neglect capital letters -- he used them quite a bit.
In fact, it's worth noting (since there have been so many references to him in this thread) that E.E. Cummings was not intent on having his name lowercased. Wikipedia says he occasionally signed his name lowercase, but he didn't feel strongly about this and he apparently preferred that it be generally uppercase. It's mainly other people who have lowercased his name in a self-conscious attempt to be Cummings-esque.
posted by Jaltcoh at 7:23 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
In fact, it's worth noting (since there have been so many references to him in this thread) that E.E. Cummings was not intent on having his name lowercased. Wikipedia says he occasionally signed his name lowercase, but he didn't feel strongly about this and he apparently preferred that it be generally uppercase. It's mainly other people who have lowercased his name in a self-conscious attempt to be Cummings-esque.
posted by Jaltcoh at 7:23 PM on July 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
It's the perfect way for preening hipsters to boldly proclaim their humility.
posted by mattholomew at 8:07 PM on July 31, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by mattholomew at 8:07 PM on July 31, 2010 [2 favorites]
e.e. cummings did not eschew caps to be "cool;" he did it as a deliberate and quite original (for his time) poetic device. People who can't be bothered to hit "shift" are neither deliberate nor original - they are lazy and tend to come across as such. I have had many words with my students about the "original" emails that they send at times, to the effect of "If you can't be bothered to format your messages properly, then I shall not bother to answer you - take the extra 30 seconds and capitalize, use a period, &c." But then again, I'm kind of a throwback.
posted by deep thought sunstar at 2:47 AM on August 1, 2010
posted by deep thought sunstar at 2:47 AM on August 1, 2010
I don't tend to use caps much when IM'ing and IRC'ing, and I think this habit carries over when I'm sending short messages to people via email. it's also a useful preliminary stage in writing for me -- my sentences seem more amenable to editing when they are not entirely sure where they begin and where they end.
posted by macinchik at 2:54 AM on August 1, 2010
posted by macinchik at 2:54 AM on August 1, 2010
Thank you Jaltcoh, and thank you, OP, for capitalizing Cummings in the first place. This thread was making me feel ill. (But I'm a terrible, pretentious person, anyway).
posted by SputnikSweetheart at 3:39 PM on August 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by SputnikSweetheart at 3:39 PM on August 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
text that is allinlowercase is aestheticallymorepleasing than mixed the people who write lower case are often the playsmithswho dofunk y things like join wordstogether and omit punctuation
ALL UPPER CASE TEXT IS GENERALLY MORE ATTRACTIVE TOO, PERHAPS MORESO, AT LEAST IN PRINT [COMMON IN MAGAZINES]. ON WEBSITES IT TENDS TO LOOK LIKE ONE IS BEING SCREAMED AT, AND I'LL ADMIT TO USUALLY VIEWING PEOPLE WHO WRITE THAT WAY AS BEING OF LOW INTELLIGENCE AND UNCOUTH.
The reason mixed upper and lower case writing--normal writing--looks less nice is because it's cluttered and unbalanced, but it's ameliorated by long sentences. I don't think normal writing is less attractive when it's cursive though. It's visual nature is different when cursive; it becomes elegant. And I'm not saying it's a big deal; I'm just a faggy aesthete.
People should just do what they feel like doing with writing. Got to be careful with serious pieces though. If I said I'd seen bell hooks, you might think I'd seen hooks on bells. So obviously, writing your name in lower case is OK if it's stephen watson, but a bad idea if it's Bell Hooks.
posted by Deor at 4:15 PM on August 1, 2010
ALL UPPER CASE TEXT IS GENERALLY MORE ATTRACTIVE TOO, PERHAPS MORESO, AT LEAST IN PRINT [COMMON IN MAGAZINES]. ON WEBSITES IT TENDS TO LOOK LIKE ONE IS BEING SCREAMED AT, AND I'LL ADMIT TO USUALLY VIEWING PEOPLE WHO WRITE THAT WAY AS BEING OF LOW INTELLIGENCE AND UNCOUTH.
The reason mixed upper and lower case writing--normal writing--looks less nice is because it's cluttered and unbalanced, but it's ameliorated by long sentences. I don't think normal writing is less attractive when it's cursive though. It's visual nature is different when cursive; it becomes elegant. And I'm not saying it's a big deal; I'm just a faggy aesthete.
People should just do what they feel like doing with writing. Got to be careful with serious pieces though. If I said I'd seen bell hooks, you might think I'd seen hooks on bells. So obviously, writing your name in lower case is OK if it's stephen watson, but a bad idea if it's Bell Hooks.
posted by Deor at 4:15 PM on August 1, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
It was actually a left-leaning blog that got me to go back to capitalization, because they had a rule that grammar = a good thing and commenters must at least attempt to follow the rules of written English.
In a funny way, I wonder if it's sort of the opposite of those computer semi-illiterate folks who always type in all-caps even though there's no reason for it and the entire internet universe knows it's bad.
posted by Sara C. at 12:18 PM on July 31, 2010