capitalization

[IntravenousDemilo]

i just got back from another site where a number of people were posting whole paragraphs with not one single capital letter. that includes proper nouns. i think they were doing it on purpose. you know, it's not that hard to hit the shift key. really.

are these people avoiding capitalization because they think it looks cool, or they fancy themselves as rebels, or it's their "style" or something? well, too bad! we use capitalization (and punctuation) for a very good reason -- it helps us keep our words in ordered structure so that we can make more sense to others. it's also a good visual signal that a new sentence is beginning, since in small print, a comma and a period look much the same. the rules are in place for everyone, and if you violate them, you'd better be e.e. cummings or someone of his literary stature. for anyone else, no, it's not cool, it's no longer particularly rebellious, and personal "style" in this case is nothing more than a mindless affectation, especially if it distracts from substance, so if you're guilty of this, cut it out!

man, it's so hard to type without using capital letters. my left little finger wants to hit the shift key automatically when a sentence is over. it's even harder to proofread what i've written, and i imagine it's been similarly difficult for all of you to read.

[YDogg]

1. and your point is

:hi:

[Parche]

2. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT

:woohoo: :woohoo:

:hi:

[IntravenousDemilo]

4. WELL, OF COURSE, THAT'S THE OPPOSITE EXTREME

And it's just as annoying, as well as louder. :)

Majuscules and minuscules, along with punctuation, are the traffic signals for our words. We flout them at our peril.

[fizzgig]

3. it's just how i type

and i read your post just fine. i don't see what the problem is.

[IntravenousDemilo]

8. Is that your way of admitting that typing everything in lower case IS your particular affectation?

From my vantage point, "it's just how i type" would seem to indicate that it was a conscious decision.

[madinmaryland]

5. when i want to post something quickly, i don't use the proper capitalization.

i'm not the fastest typer!

[harmonicon]

6. I agree

I used to be an all lower-case person, but then I thought about shit just being easier to read if I took that little bit of shift-key effort. Now I feel bad about having ever done it.

[DarkTirade]

7. I tend to be rather anal about such things...

but I can afford to be since I usually type faster than 90 WPM. :)

[IntravenousDemilo]

9. And even at 90 words per minute, you're still considerate enough towards your readers to capitalize!

:yourock:

[DarkTirade]

That's what I mean. For me 'taking the time' involves fractions of a second.

I tend to be the tortoise rather than the hare, taking my time and doing things. But when it comes to computers my 'tortoise' speed is faster than most people's 'hare' speed.

[Gormy Cuss]

10. Did you learn to type?

I've noticed that those of us who were taught to type on typewriters are far more compulsive about capitalization. We also tend to put 2 spaces after a period. ;-)

[IntravenousDemilo]

12. Yes, in high school.

I managed to get my speed up to 60 wpm on an Underwood manual typewriter, but with computers, it's much higher. We were indeed taught to put two spaces after full stops, but that got beaten out of me at journalism school -- they said that if newspapers and magazines were to use two spaces, then all that extra space, when added up, would amount to a huge waste of paper and revenue. I of course asked them about display ads that have a lot of non-inked white space, and they explained that ads were revenue-positive. And so I use one space, which makes capitals at the front end of sentences that much more necessary. At least with two spaces, it was easier to tell where one sentence ended and another one began. This forum automatically changes multiple spaces to just one in any case -- presumably to save paper...?

[DarkTirade]

14. It's an HTML thing actually.

The only way to force an extra space in there is to use the nbsp code.The only way to force an extra space in there is to use the nbsp code.                                          :)

I would type it out but I can't remember the code to NOT make it turn into a space. :P Basically it's an ampersand in front of nbsp. And if you're doing multiple ones, you seperate each one with a semi-colon. So it ends up looking like $nbsp; only with an & instead of a $

[DarkTirade]

15. I don't think it's typewriters, I think it's just training in general.

I learned how to type properly in 3rd grade, but I've never used a typewriter.

Most people in the post-typewriter generation either never learned to type properly, or didn't learn until high school.

[Gormy Cuss]

17. Most people in the typewriter generations never learned to type properly either.

It was VERY interesting when the business world had to adjust to the keyboard-centric world.
:D

[NV Whino]

11. and they are all named e.e. cummings.

[IntravenousDemilo]

13. They wish... n/m

[Xipe Totec]

16. I Have A Hard Time Stopping Myself From Capitalizing Every Word!

Stop Me Before I Capitalize Again!!!!

[bixente]

18. It varies for me

On message boards, I do what you feel is appropriate. ;) While I don't bother when using instant messages - for the former, I don't feel anything is demanded of me, it's my own message, that's it. With regard to the latter, there's someone with me, so perhaps there's an expectation? So yeah, in that case, I don't take the trouble.

[otherlander]

19. Ok. Is it still ok to write yr, though?