When will society expect me to adhere to the laws of grammar?
April 7, 2024 1:48 AM Subscribe
Some realize it’s time to turn on auto-capitalization when they begin texting with bosses and colleagues for work, given lowercase letters can be susceptible to misinterpretation. This is especially the case when communicating with older generations who didn’t grow up DMing their BFFs. But shunning the Shift key helps others cling to their youth. To them, a lowercase letter isn’t just a lowercase letter. Instead, it’s a way to forever remain cool and casual in texts. Even some CEOs do it. from time to start typing like a grownup [WSJ; ungated]
do you want caps lock? this is how you get caps lock
posted by kokaku at 2:17 AM on April 7 [21 favorites]
posted by kokaku at 2:17 AM on April 7 [21 favorites]
since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you
posted by Phanx at 2:20 AM on April 7 [9 favorites]
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you
posted by Phanx at 2:20 AM on April 7 [9 favorites]
bombastic lowercase pronouncements to the courtesy phone
posted by zamboni at 2:22 AM on April 7 [53 favorites]
posted by zamboni at 2:22 AM on April 7 [53 favorites]
Do We Fear Or Love Lowercase Boys? Here’s What 3 Experts Want You To Know
Texting in lowercase gives off the ultimate cool vibes, and the 2014 Tumblr girls invented the lowercase text. It means you’re definitely a gen Zer (because millennials could never), and you’re so casual you don’t even care about basic grammar. But are men just as cool and attractive when they text in lowercase?posted by pracowity at 2:40 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
So obviously this comes down to personal preference — are you a lowercase girl, or are you an editor in training that calls out peoples’ grammar over text? No judgment, because I’m a combination of both. But, what if I told you that relationship experts have actual answers as to whether or not it’s attractive when men text in lowercase? [...]
the 2014 Tumblr girls invented the lowercase text. It means you’re definitely a gen Zer (because millennials could never)
I'm sorry but what the fuck, has this person never met a millennial, were they just not alive at any point before 2014
posted by potrzebie at 3:10 AM on April 7 [58 favorites]
I'm sorry but what the fuck, has this person never met a millennial, were they just not alive at any point before 2014
posted by potrzebie at 3:10 AM on April 7 [58 favorites]
Yeah, text messages in all lowercase with lots of abbreviations and acronyms was de rigueur in the Nokia days.
posted by Dysk at 3:17 AM on April 7 [7 favorites]
posted by Dysk at 3:17 AM on April 7 [7 favorites]
I guess from here every generation will think they invented both sex and lowercase messaging?
posted by Dysk at 3:19 AM on April 7 [65 favorites]
posted by Dysk at 3:19 AM on April 7 [65 favorites]
because millennials could never
i was born near the end of the reagan administration and the present sentence does not follow standard written english capitalisation conventions.
posted by busted_crayons at 3:20 AM on April 7 [8 favorites]
i was born near the end of the reagan administration and the present sentence does not follow standard written english capitalisation conventions.
posted by busted_crayons at 3:20 AM on April 7 [8 favorites]
I'd never, ever make it as a kid nowadaze. I spent at least 90 minutes on a text earlier. Not just the right text but semi:colons, a colon or two I think. Poorly written text is poorly written. god made all of those bits to add clarity to writing, which, guess what, adds clarity to thinking.
I spent 4.5 years in high school and didn't graduate, just finally gave up -- I gave up on school, school gave up on me. I'm not dumb but when we moved from one house to another in grade school I went from A's and B's to showing up drunk and stoned, the whole thing was just for fun, I was already making more money than my teachers and I was going to be young forever, who had time to think about arthritis and all of the rest of it, an old high school friend had become a chiropractor, he looked at the xrays and asked me had I been playing in the NFL.
Anyways, I always loved to read and began to write and liked it also, though I wouldn't show anybody anything but anyone who has paid any mind here the past 15 years knows I got past being shy.
Turned out I became a mainframe computer programmer, a huge laugh from all the dummies classes. I still can't do long division, as a programmer you're supposed to be all logical -- comical. What I am is one stubborn son of a gun. going from construction sites to Pennzoil and a couple banks and blah blah, I even had some wing-tip shoes, can you imagine.
Last, which perhaps ought to have been first. A *lot* of these older guys (I'm 69) spent their youth reading COBOL and such junk. I like it myself, it's exactly what was on blue-prints on all those construction sites I was on. Confession: I can scarce write cursive, never needed it nor wanted it, really. It's a good thing that writing checks is in the past, seems to me.
posted by dancestoblue at 3:35 AM on April 7 [29 favorites]
I spent 4.5 years in high school and didn't graduate, just finally gave up -- I gave up on school, school gave up on me. I'm not dumb but when we moved from one house to another in grade school I went from A's and B's to showing up drunk and stoned, the whole thing was just for fun, I was already making more money than my teachers and I was going to be young forever, who had time to think about arthritis and all of the rest of it, an old high school friend had become a chiropractor, he looked at the xrays and asked me had I been playing in the NFL.
Anyways, I always loved to read and began to write and liked it also, though I wouldn't show anybody anything but anyone who has paid any mind here the past 15 years knows I got past being shy.
Turned out I became a mainframe computer programmer, a huge laugh from all the dummies classes. I still can't do long division, as a programmer you're supposed to be all logical -- comical. What I am is one stubborn son of a gun. going from construction sites to Pennzoil and a couple banks and blah blah, I even had some wing-tip shoes, can you imagine.
Last, which perhaps ought to have been first. A *lot* of these older guys (I'm 69) spent their youth reading COBOL and such junk. I like it myself, it's exactly what was on blue-prints on all those construction sites I was on. Confession: I can scarce write cursive, never needed it nor wanted it, really. It's a good thing that writing checks is in the past, seems to me.
posted by dancestoblue at 3:35 AM on April 7 [29 favorites]
so does this mean that i have to put toast on salmon now?
posted by pyramid termite at 3:48 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
posted by pyramid termite at 3:48 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
the 2014 Tumblr girls invented the lowercase text. It means you’re definitely a gen Zer (because millennials could never)
True, not everyone had a phone back then. Why, they used to send lowercase emails uphill both ways...
posted by trig at 4:08 AM on April 7 [9 favorites]
True, not everyone had a phone back then. Why, they used to send lowercase emails uphill both ways...
posted by trig at 4:08 AM on April 7 [9 favorites]
@dancestoblue... 69, programmer, can't write cursive, not that logical. Are you me?
(But in my case it was Fortran rather than COBOL)
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 4:28 AM on April 7 [5 favorites]
(But in my case it was Fortran rather than COBOL)
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 4:28 AM on April 7 [5 favorites]
Love the idea that the average WSJ reader is dictating their texts onto a reel-to-reel dictaphone before having their secretary type them up on the Selectric, so is unaware of the world of lowercase communications. I, in my (very early young) 50s, always text using lowercase, and when I text my professional messages to my boss, in his 60s, he responds using lowercase. In fact the big difference there is that, unless I'm going for a quick joke, I'll also use a good bit of punctuation to encourage a bit of dynamism in my text: while his are flat and unpunctuated and sometimes seem to stop too soon
Work emails to customers? Appropriate mixed case, although often with inappropriate question-marks to signal up-talking, because that's basically just how I talk. metafilter posts and comments? Appropriate mixed case unless coming in with the quick joke. Texts to my kids? Lowercase but with sufficient punctuation and emojis because a disturbingly sociopathic-sounding middle-aged flatness of tone via text is a thing. (Oh, also italics. Italics in all things. Platforms that don't allow italics are trying to silence me.)
posted by mittens at 4:29 AM on April 7 [12 favorites]
Work emails to customers? Appropriate mixed case, although often with inappropriate question-marks to signal up-talking, because that's basically just how I talk. metafilter posts and comments? Appropriate mixed case unless coming in with the quick joke. Texts to my kids? Lowercase but with sufficient punctuation and emojis because a disturbingly sociopathic-sounding middle-aged flatness of tone via text is a thing. (Oh, also italics. Italics in all things. Platforms that don't allow italics are trying to silence me.)
posted by mittens at 4:29 AM on April 7 [12 favorites]
Poorly written text is poorly written. god made all of those bits to add clarity to writing, which, guess what, adds clarity to thinking.
capitalism sux tho
posted by flabdablet at 4:32 AM on April 7 [11 favorites]
capitalism sux tho
posted by flabdablet at 4:32 AM on April 7 [11 favorites]
do you want caps lock? this is how you get caps lock
CAPSLOCK IS HOW I FEEL INSIDE ALL THE TIME.
posted by chasles at 4:36 AM on April 7 [39 favorites]
CAPSLOCK IS HOW I FEEL INSIDE ALL THE TIME.
posted by chasles at 4:36 AM on April 7 [39 favorites]
"even some CEOs do it.”
Back in the days before texting was a thing, in any given email chain at my job, the worst written messages were always from the most important people. Someone would write a page long, perfectly punctuated argument in favor of a change, and as it filtered up the chain, it would become a one paragraph summary, then one sentence and by the time it came back down from the executive suite they would have either blessed it ("go ahead"), delayed it ("mayb 3Q?”) or denied it (”no budget") without capitalizing or punctuating much of anything.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:39 AM on April 7 [31 favorites]
Back in the days before texting was a thing, in any given email chain at my job, the worst written messages were always from the most important people. Someone would write a page long, perfectly punctuated argument in favor of a change, and as it filtered up the chain, it would become a one paragraph summary, then one sentence and by the time it came back down from the executive suite they would have either blessed it ("go ahead"), delayed it ("mayb 3Q?”) or denied it (”no budget") without capitalizing or punctuating much of anything.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:39 AM on April 7 [31 favorites]
by the time it came back down from the executive suite they would have either blessed it ("go ahead"), delayed it ("mayb 3Q?”) or denied it (”no budget") without capitalizing or punctuating much of anything.
It seems to me that the poor writing there is (intentionally or not) signifying something quite different. It conveys the notion that "I'm so important that I don't have time to spend crafting a well-written reply."
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:42 AM on April 7 [21 favorites]
It seems to me that the poor writing there is (intentionally or not) signifying something quite different. It conveys the notion that "I'm so important that I don't have time to spend crafting a well-written reply."
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:42 AM on April 7 [21 favorites]
god made all of those bits to add clarity to writing, which, guess what, adds clarity to thinking.
Unfortunately, the article we’re discussing is prima facie evidence that clarity of writing does not lead to clarity of thought.
posted by mhoye at 4:56 AM on April 7 [8 favorites]
Unfortunately, the article we’re discussing is prima facie evidence that clarity of writing does not lead to clarity of thought.
posted by mhoye at 4:56 AM on April 7 [8 favorites]
You know you’re in trouble when you send a message n sans serif, and the reply comes in serif. Also, when your business manager starts using capital numbers, watch out!
posted by genjiandProust at 4:56 AM on April 7 [7 favorites]
posted by genjiandProust at 4:56 AM on April 7 [7 favorites]
capital numbers
This is going to take some tinkering on the keyboard.
posted by mittens at 5:09 AM on April 7 [9 favorites]
This is going to take some tinkering on the keyboard.
posted by mittens at 5:09 AM on April 7 [9 favorites]
I think people like to complain about things like this (and about music, and about kids these days) because there was a very brief period in youth when they felt certain of something and knew they were the Bests, and they desperately want it to stay that way. I have rarely felt like that, so I just keep swimming.
My millennial adult child and I text one another in a mixture of Emily-Dickinson-style capitalization, inappropriate all caps for off-kilter emphasis, emojis, literary references, random gIFS, and slang from various periods of our lives and the lives of our forebears. I endeavor to capitalize appropriately with my friends in their fifties and sixties, however, just because it seems to calm them down. Code-switching is often the kindest thing you can do with people like that.
IOW, be kind, capitalize when appropriate, but otherwise do what you will. Though sometimes I like to pronounce it "jif" just to give people the collywobbles.
posted by Peach at 5:10 AM on April 7 [14 favorites]
My millennial adult child and I text one another in a mixture of Emily-Dickinson-style capitalization, inappropriate all caps for off-kilter emphasis, emojis, literary references, random gIFS, and slang from various periods of our lives and the lives of our forebears. I endeavor to capitalize appropriately with my friends in their fifties and sixties, however, just because it seems to calm them down. Code-switching is often the kindest thing you can do with people like that.
IOW, be kind, capitalize when appropriate, but otherwise do what you will. Though sometimes I like to pronounce it "jif" just to give people the collywobbles.
posted by Peach at 5:10 AM on April 7 [14 favorites]
It seems to me that the poor writing there is (intentionally or not) signifying something quite different.
Yeah, I've read about some research on that somewhere. A comparison of email length and complexity. It's a power thing. Underlings write their polite, careful little ass-covering essays. Bosses respond with "ok" or "not gonna happen" or "ask sue" or whatever.
posted by pracowity at 5:14 AM on April 7 [8 favorites]
Yeah, I've read about some research on that somewhere. A comparison of email length and complexity. It's a power thing. Underlings write their polite, careful little ass-covering essays. Bosses respond with "ok" or "not gonna happen" or "ask sue" or whatever.
posted by pracowity at 5:14 AM on April 7 [8 favorites]
Ahem, I am afraid my joke had it backwards. Our “normal” number alignments are capitalized; lower case numbers are totally a thing.
posted by genjiandProust at 5:19 AM on April 7 [13 favorites]
posted by genjiandProust at 5:19 AM on April 7 [13 favorites]
I guess from here every generation will think they invented both sex and lowercase messaging?
Right?? I remember when my Pine email account signature had my name in all lower case letters followed by some deep inspirational quote.
posted by slidell at 5:43 AM on April 7 [8 favorites]
Right?? I remember when my Pine email account signature had my name in all lower case letters followed by some deep inspirational quote.
posted by slidell at 5:43 AM on April 7 [8 favorites]
The poet E.E. Cummings famously wrote in lowercase.
Wow, e.e. cummings would be rolling in his grave if he read that sentence.
posted by AlSweigart at 5:44 AM on April 7 [20 favorites]
Wow, e.e. cummings would be rolling in his grave if he read that sentence.
posted by AlSweigart at 5:44 AM on April 7 [20 favorites]
I think that ultimately one has to be done with being cool. You get old enough and you have so many memories and things have changed so much that you can't be a pure expression of the zeitgeist like the youths can, and trying to is stupid. The benefit of being old is - or at least can be - being shaped into something somewhat individual by time and experience, even if you're also an old weirdo.
For me, I just kind of hate phones and always have, and so anything that requires poking around and understanding how to phone is so intensely annoying to me that I just won't do it, and so my texts are fairly infrequent and default to however the phone tends to work on its own. And that's just who I am at this point. god willing, I'll never have to text my boss regularly enough for it to matter.
My father, interestingly, also hates phones, but his phone hatred takes the form of extremely minimal and non-capitalized messages, so I suppose people would assume from our texts that I am the ossified boomer and he is the youthful and zeitgeisty child.
posted by Frowner at 5:46 AM on April 7 [11 favorites]
For me, I just kind of hate phones and always have, and so anything that requires poking around and understanding how to phone is so intensely annoying to me that I just won't do it, and so my texts are fairly infrequent and default to however the phone tends to work on its own. And that's just who I am at this point. god willing, I'll never have to text my boss regularly enough for it to matter.
My father, interestingly, also hates phones, but his phone hatred takes the form of extremely minimal and non-capitalized messages, so I suppose people would assume from our texts that I am the ossified boomer and he is the youthful and zeitgeisty child.
posted by Frowner at 5:46 AM on April 7 [11 favorites]
This is going to take some tinkering on the keyboard.
Upper and lowercase numbers was a real proposal in early character sets for computing. We didn't end up using it - I think somebody finally - correctly -realized that the implementation complexity was just not going to be worth it - but the possibility was in play for a few years.
posted by mhoye at 5:49 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
Upper and lowercase numbers was a real proposal in early character sets for computing. We didn't end up using it - I think somebody finally - correctly -realized that the implementation complexity was just not going to be worth it - but the possibility was in play for a few years.
posted by mhoye at 5:49 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
I am fifty something years old and I find myself typing all in lower case more and more. Especially in situations where I just do not give two shits about the person I’m talking to. I am about as far as you can get from being a CEO so it’s not a power move. Or maybe it is.
Every now and then there is a short post that needs to be in lowercase oh so very badly that I will fight the auto-capitalization of the phone/tablet to do so.
posted by egypturnash at 5:49 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
Every now and then there is a short post that needs to be in lowercase oh so very badly that I will fight the auto-capitalization of the phone/tablet to do so.
posted by egypturnash at 5:49 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
Oh yeah did any of you ever do the thing where you capitalize normally but remove the inherent capitalization from the pronoun “i”, i used to do that a lot in my twenties when i was generally really fucking sad and depressed and it was certainly A Vibe. And damn it looks weird to see that coming up on my screen now that I’m a lot less generally sad and depressed.
posted by egypturnash at 5:55 AM on April 7 [9 favorites]
posted by egypturnash at 5:55 AM on April 7 [9 favorites]
Wow, e.e. cummings would be rolling in his grave if he read that sentence.
Nah.
posted by pracowity at 5:57 AM on April 7 [10 favorites]
Nah.
posted by pracowity at 5:57 AM on April 7 [10 favorites]
I can't help but wonder if this is part of the WSJ's plan to normalize fascist Republican speak. First, they come after the kids writing in all lowercase, then it's mandatory proper capitalization, then finally we move to the end game- Trump caps, where the first letter of words he deems important are Capitalized for Emphasis. /s mostly but not entirely.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 6:00 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 6:00 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
I got sick of autocorrect changing my text and adding erroneous appostrophes to my "its", so I finally just turned the whole thing off. No spell check, autocapitalization, or autocorrect.
I will hoist the black flag and text like an idiot.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 6:04 AM on April 7 [15 favorites]
I will hoist the black flag and text like an idiot.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 6:04 AM on April 7 [15 favorites]
Proper capitalization can also be subject to misinterpretation in a profession setting.
Source: A doctor responded to my e-mail update about a fellow patient with “Thank you for letting me know.” instead of his usual “thx” and I was immediately convinced he hated me and wanted me to never speak to him again. Then I remembered that this is one of the auto-replies Outlook generates that you can just hit and send. Everyone I talked to agreed they too would be convinced they’d unforgivably offended him if they’d gotten that message.
Anyway, I’m autistic and have decades of practice code switching so I have no problem using whatever is dominant in the environment, but I’m a lowercaser with my good friends. Auto-cap has been off since my switch from a flip to my first smartphone so I never came to rely on it and hitting shift when I need to capitalize is easy and automatic.
Also everyone on Tumblr in 2014 was a Millennial.
posted by brook horse at 6:06 AM on April 7 [10 favorites]
Source: A doctor responded to my e-mail update about a fellow patient with “Thank you for letting me know.” instead of his usual “thx” and I was immediately convinced he hated me and wanted me to never speak to him again. Then I remembered that this is one of the auto-replies Outlook generates that you can just hit and send. Everyone I talked to agreed they too would be convinced they’d unforgivably offended him if they’d gotten that message.
Anyway, I’m autistic and have decades of practice code switching so I have no problem using whatever is dominant in the environment, but I’m a lowercaser with my good friends. Auto-cap has been off since my switch from a flip to my first smartphone so I never came to rely on it and hitting shift when I need to capitalize is easy and automatic.
Also everyone on Tumblr in 2014 was a Millennial.
posted by brook horse at 6:06 AM on April 7 [10 favorites]
My first mobile phone didn't allow the entry of lowercase letters, and on switching to one that did, I suppose I overcompensated, texting in as formally-punctuated, capitalised and grammatical a manner as I could make fit - and I've done so ever since.
If that makes me uncool, it's just one more thing for the list.
posted by entity447b at 6:32 AM on April 7 [6 favorites]
If that makes me uncool, it's just one more thing for the list.
posted by entity447b at 6:32 AM on April 7 [6 favorites]
With the amount of bizarre autocorrect decisions my phone makes entirely without my input, I’m lucky my texts are in any way coherent let alone grammatically correct.
posted by eekernohan at 6:35 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
posted by eekernohan at 6:35 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
The Manwich Horror: I got sick of autocorrect changing my text and adding erroneous appostrophes to my "its", so I finally just turned the whole thing off. No spell check, autocapitalization, or autocorrect.
I've never used autocorrect. I can make my own mistakes, thank you very much, and I strongly prefer it that way.
Also I have always used capitals and punctuation in texts. I also type below the quoted text in email. It's fun being a 🦕.
posted by Too-Ticky at 6:40 AM on April 7 [7 favorites]
I've never used autocorrect. I can make my own mistakes, thank you very much, and I strongly prefer it that way.
Also I have always used capitals and punctuation in texts. I also type below the quoted text in email. It's fun being a 🦕.
posted by Too-Ticky at 6:40 AM on April 7 [7 favorites]
The funny thing about the purely lower case texting is that it takes extra work to make happen. You have to go into the settings and turn off the auto-capitalization and punctuation.
Also I have always used capitals and punctuation in texts.
If I ever need to use online dating, this is going to be one of my primary criteria, along with them being a non-smoker and hopefully not involved in an kidney-stealing ring.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:59 AM on April 7 [8 favorites]
Also I have always used capitals and punctuation in texts.
If I ever need to use online dating, this is going to be one of my primary criteria, along with them being a non-smoker and hopefully not involved in an kidney-stealing ring.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:59 AM on April 7 [8 favorites]
If I ever need to use online dating, this is going to be one of my primary criteria, along with them being a non-smoker and hopefully not involved in an kidney-stealing ring.
I like how you sequenced your criteria. (Fellow capitalization and punctuation zealot here, which definitely put me in the vanishing minority of AOL users circa 1998)
posted by Mayor West at 7:09 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
I like how you sequenced your criteria. (Fellow capitalization and punctuation zealot here, which definitely put me in the vanishing minority of AOL users circa 1998)
posted by Mayor West at 7:09 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
I use lowercase typing when a) I want to interject something in a sort of monotone or sotto voce without necessarily calling attention to myself in the conversation or b) I feel like it.
When I was young in the 90s and early 00s, lowercase seemed twee, very e.e. cummings. After texting came along, it seemed low-effort and foolish for a while. Then it came into its own, and at some point, not being a prescriptivist, I accepted it. Now it's hard to imagine some of the funniest posts on the internet with formal capital usage.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:10 AM on April 7 [8 favorites]
When I was young in the 90s and early 00s, lowercase seemed twee, very e.e. cummings. After texting came along, it seemed low-effort and foolish for a while. Then it came into its own, and at some point, not being a prescriptivist, I accepted it. Now it's hard to imagine some of the funniest posts on the internet with formal capital usage.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:10 AM on April 7 [8 favorites]
A particularly combative and unwelcome member of an internet community I was part of 25 years ago used all lowercase letters in most of her contributions. When someone said something bitchy to her about it (I forget what exactly) she replied, I write the way I do because I have chronic pain and using the shift key triggers it. I think about that sometimes.
posted by eirias at 7:13 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
posted by eirias at 7:13 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
Similar character arc to Countess Elena, I was a childhood grammar and punctuation zealot. And I easily return to those roots to blend in with the local flora and fauna.
but if i’m talking to a friend im gonna type like this bcz christ im not writing An Essay and i have 37583892 more things to worry abt than “do i look Dignified TM” enough in text and my friends don’t care
i ALSO have chronic pain and hypermobile thumbs n every extra letter n capitalization used for Proper grammar (rather than Emphasis To Communicate as these capitals are for) is less time i can actually like, talk to you abt shit. so yea capitals can fuck off ✌️
But I use them on metafilter because it freaks people out too much if you don’t. I don’t comment much on here though. I suppose I should amend the “no problem” to “I don’t mind doing it” but yeah it does take more effort that results in less overall engagement.
posted by brook horse at 7:24 AM on April 7 [6 favorites]
but if i’m talking to a friend im gonna type like this bcz christ im not writing An Essay and i have 37583892 more things to worry abt than “do i look Dignified TM” enough in text and my friends don’t care
i ALSO have chronic pain and hypermobile thumbs n every extra letter n capitalization used for Proper grammar (rather than Emphasis To Communicate as these capitals are for) is less time i can actually like, talk to you abt shit. so yea capitals can fuck off ✌️
But I use them on metafilter because it freaks people out too much if you don’t. I don’t comment much on here though. I suppose I should amend the “no problem” to “I don’t mind doing it” but yeah it does take more effort that results in less overall engagement.
posted by brook horse at 7:24 AM on April 7 [6 favorites]
For me, I just kind of hate phones and always have, and so anything that requires poking around and understanding how to phone is so intensely annoying to me that I just won't do it, and so my texts are fairly infrequent and default to however the phone tends to work on its own.
strong second on hating phones and having zero interest in wanting to know how to do shit on a locked-down, unintuitive, bad-vision-big-thumbs-inaccessible device*. i therefore do most of my texting from a laptop with the whatsapp and signal linux clients, during periodic correspondence-response times.
(heaven forfend i should see and respond to anything synchronously in real time; that's way too stressful and a borderline-offensive imposition. if someone wants the fastest possible response i do, they can send an email. also lol SMS, i'm not opening one of those; does the scammer think i was born last week?)
so the lowercase and the emojis are pure theatre/code-switching/body language; i'm generally texting or metafiltering or whatever in exactly the same circumstances in which i'm writing standard-caps, fully-punctuated work emails/technical documents/etc. it's a semiconscious vibes-based choice.
*(hot take, flattering to the mefi demographic: if one studied it properly and controlled for other factors, i bet one would find that boomers (and older) and zoomers (and younger) are on average equally technologically inept, by a standard of technical eptitude that feels reasonable (to people in between those age groups, i.e. those who used DOS in the high school computer room and find mobile interfaces sort of infantilising etc.) but which also makes the claim about age-related tech-savviness almost a tautology. ugh this comment sounds quite a lot like my dad rhapsodising about bringing his punch cards to the university library to run his FORTRAN homework.)
posted by busted_crayons at 7:28 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
strong second on hating phones and having zero interest in wanting to know how to do shit on a locked-down, unintuitive, bad-vision-big-thumbs-inaccessible device*. i therefore do most of my texting from a laptop with the whatsapp and signal linux clients, during periodic correspondence-response times.
(heaven forfend i should see and respond to anything synchronously in real time; that's way too stressful and a borderline-offensive imposition. if someone wants the fastest possible response i do, they can send an email. also lol SMS, i'm not opening one of those; does the scammer think i was born last week?)
so the lowercase and the emojis are pure theatre/code-switching/body language; i'm generally texting or metafiltering or whatever in exactly the same circumstances in which i'm writing standard-caps, fully-punctuated work emails/technical documents/etc. it's a semiconscious vibes-based choice.
*(hot take, flattering to the mefi demographic: if one studied it properly and controlled for other factors, i bet one would find that boomers (and older) and zoomers (and younger) are on average equally technologically inept, by a standard of technical eptitude that feels reasonable (to people in between those age groups, i.e. those who used DOS in the high school computer room and find mobile interfaces sort of infantilising etc.) but which also makes the claim about age-related tech-savviness almost a tautology. ugh this comment sounds quite a lot like my dad rhapsodising about bringing his punch cards to the university library to run his FORTRAN homework.)
posted by busted_crayons at 7:28 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
I've never understood the lowercase thing as a signifier of 'coolness' as, on iPhone at least, it actually takes more effort to uncapitalize words, not less.
posted by Flashman at 7:39 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
posted by Flashman at 7:39 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
yeah, the newer speech-to-text adds caps and periods, which make you look upset about something or at least oddly formal. I gotta go in there and fix them so that nobody thinks I'm sulking about something
posted by Countess Elena at 7:55 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 7:55 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
god wouldn't have given you the shift key if he had not wanted you to capitalize your sentences appropriately; ditto the semicolon.
About those fucking emojis--don't get me started.
posted by mule98J at 7:57 AM on April 7 [5 favorites]
About those fucking emojis--don't get me started.
posted by mule98J at 7:57 AM on April 7 [5 favorites]
part of the WSJ's plan to normalize fascist Republican speak
Heh.
Actually, if you want to do conspiracy writing properly, you need to capitalize Certain Words to indicate their esoteric Importance. More caps!
posted by doctornemo at 8:01 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
Heh.
Actually, if you want to do conspiracy writing properly, you need to capitalize Certain Words to indicate their esoteric Importance. More caps!
posted by doctornemo at 8:01 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
Two feral pig posts in one day?
posted by biffa at 8:09 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
posted by biffa at 8:09 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
god wouldn't have given you the shift key ...
And PERIODS. How hard is it to hit the space key twice? You've got your thumb on it already! That caps the next letter, and you're looking fabulous. Clarity, people, CLARITY! I can forgive then/than your/you're, because autocorrect tries to sabotage all of us sometimes I screw up because my mind has wandered off to the next thing I want to say when your sentence runs on and on there's no break or time to catch your breath before the next ping because you forgot to add something to your previous text don't get me started on the lack of question marks when your exclamation points rain down like the enemy spears at Thermopylae?
But yeah, sometimes there are good reasons why people do things the way they do so I forgive. I have a hate/love relationship with cell phones and their operation. Sometimes text ameliorates, sometimes exacerbates, those feelings.
posted by BlueHorse at 8:23 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
And PERIODS. How hard is it to hit the space key twice? You've got your thumb on it already! That caps the next letter, and you're looking fabulous. Clarity, people, CLARITY! I can forgive then/than your/you're, because autocorrect tries to sabotage all of us sometimes I screw up because my mind has wandered off to the next thing I want to say when your sentence runs on and on there's no break or time to catch your breath before the next ping because you forgot to add something to your previous text don't get me started on the lack of question marks when your exclamation points rain down like the enemy spears at Thermopylae?
But yeah, sometimes there are good reasons why people do things the way they do so I forgive. I have a hate/love relationship with cell phones and their operation. Sometimes text ameliorates, sometimes exacerbates, those feelings.
posted by BlueHorse at 8:23 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
god wouldn't have given you the shift key if he had not wanted you to capitalize your sentences appropriately; ditto the semicolon.
totally agree that (g/g)od gave us the semicolon for a reason, the foulest vice is the comma splice.
posted by busted_crayons at 8:26 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
totally agree that (g/g)od gave us the semicolon for a reason, the foulest vice is the comma splice.
posted by busted_crayons at 8:26 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
yeah, the newer speech-to-text adds caps and periods, which make you look upset about something or at least oddly formal.
I've read about this shift in expectations by some people and have chosen to largely ignore it. I successfully interpret other people's texting quirks, and they can interpret mine. (My texting quirks are mostly that I leave the auto-cap and -punctuation settings alone, so you get the defaults which everyone is used to seeing.) They are allowed to roll their eyes and think "OK boomer" (which I'm not, but am probably with the boomers in this situation) and I'm allowed to roll my eyes at text that to me seems less precise but is still perfectly understandable.
But jokes aside, I try hard to be careful about how to word and punctuate text messages with coworkers and especially junior coworkers, where something that is too terse (and with a period!) can come off as harsh rather than efficient. You have to have some level of understanding of how your message will be read if you are going to communicate effectively.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:39 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
I've read about this shift in expectations by some people and have chosen to largely ignore it. I successfully interpret other people's texting quirks, and they can interpret mine. (My texting quirks are mostly that I leave the auto-cap and -punctuation settings alone, so you get the defaults which everyone is used to seeing.) They are allowed to roll their eyes and think "OK boomer" (which I'm not, but am probably with the boomers in this situation) and I'm allowed to roll my eyes at text that to me seems less precise but is still perfectly understandable.
But jokes aside, I try hard to be careful about how to word and punctuate text messages with coworkers and especially junior coworkers, where something that is too terse (and with a period!) can come off as harsh rather than efficient. You have to have some level of understanding of how your message will be read if you are going to communicate effectively.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:39 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
WSJ only thinks it's cool because Sam Altman does it.
posted by splitpeasoup at 8:50 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
posted by splitpeasoup at 8:50 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
Trump caps, where the first letter of words he deems important are Capitalized for Emphasisachewood did this first and i do Not acknowledge or recognize trump's claim on the practice
posted by valrus at 9:00 AM on April 7 [6 favorites]
Trivia: what word changes its meaning and pronunciation when capitalized?
Solution: "polish."
posted by SPrintF at 9:01 AM on April 7 [6 favorites]
Solution: "polish."
posted by SPrintF at 9:01 AM on April 7 [6 favorites]
What's a little more interesting to me than personal styles of capitalize-or-not is the evolution of language itself. One specific thing is the capitalization of abbreviations:
My generation's internet slang evolved on computer keyboards, and so expressions like WTF or BTW were often written uppercase, but also pretty commonly in lowercase.
AFAIK, newer abbreviations which evolved on phones like "af" (as fuck) or "rn" (right now) are always written lowercase. If you write them uppercase it can entirely change the meaning. For example RN means "registered nurse", not "right now".
posted by splitpeasoup at 9:03 AM on April 7 [7 favorites]
My generation's internet slang evolved on computer keyboards, and so expressions like WTF or BTW were often written uppercase, but also pretty commonly in lowercase.
AFAIK, newer abbreviations which evolved on phones like "af" (as fuck) or "rn" (right now) are always written lowercase. If you write them uppercase it can entirely change the meaning. For example RN means "registered nurse", not "right now".
posted by splitpeasoup at 9:03 AM on April 7 [7 favorites]
SPrintF: I must have been composing my comment at the same time as you!
posted by splitpeasoup at 9:08 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
posted by splitpeasoup at 9:08 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
tImE tO sTaRt tYpIng LiKe A gRoWnUp
posted by Dr. Curare at 9:12 AM on April 7 [14 favorites]
posted by Dr. Curare at 9:12 AM on April 7 [14 favorites]
(in case you were curious when god invented the shift key, it was with the remington number 2 in 1878! BEFORE THEN IT WAS ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME, and the earth was without form and void.)
posted by mittens at 9:38 AM on April 7 [13 favorites]
posted by mittens at 9:38 AM on April 7 [13 favorites]
How hard is it to hit the space key twice? You've got your thumb on it already! That caps the next letter
I grew up with a couple typewriters around the house, but I've never taken a typing class; still hunting & pecking. However I hear people my age who DID take typing rage about the obsolete need for two spaces after each period; so annoying to them when browsers convert those two spaces into one. Didn't know this same action could automagically capitalize the next letter after a period, when entering text on a cell.
posted by Rash at 9:48 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
I grew up with a couple typewriters around the house, but I've never taken a typing class; still hunting & pecking. However I hear people my age who DID take typing rage about the obsolete need for two spaces after each period; so annoying to them when browsers convert those two spaces into one. Didn't know this same action could automagically capitalize the next letter after a period, when entering text on a cell.
posted by Rash at 9:48 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
My Android phone capitalizes the next letter after a dot and one space. Is that not normal?
posted by flabdablet at 9:51 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 9:51 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
My Android phone capitalizes the next letter after a dot and one space. Is that not normal?
nothing about what one's android does is normal by any reasonable human standard of normality
posted by busted_crayons at 9:57 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
nothing about what one's android does is normal by any reasonable human standard of normality
posted by busted_crayons at 9:57 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
Hey, my Samsung does too! So intuitively normal; never really noticed until now.
posted by Rash at 9:57 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
posted by Rash at 9:57 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
If I receive an email from you in all lowercase, I will assume that you are extremely old and privileged and never learned how to type properly (because you've always had a secretary to do that sort of thing for you), that you hold both me and English orthography in such contempt that you performatively refuse even to attempt proper formatting, and that this is exactly what you want me to assume about you.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:59 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:59 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
IMO age has nothing to do with it, case-insensitive transmissions just indicate laziness to me. But there's a special case I'll post about later - still gathering data about it.
posted by Rash at 10:07 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
posted by Rash at 10:07 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
my lawyers will be in touch about this vile calumny
posted by mittens at 10:09 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
posted by mittens at 10:09 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
(I/i) will be instructing my lawyers's secretary to send each of you a bespoke strongly-worded demand (--/---/()to retract your vicious slanders(--/---/)) formatted in the manner least appealing to your personal idiosyncratic typographic sensibilities(!/./💩/❗)
posted by busted_crayons at 10:19 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
posted by busted_crayons at 10:19 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
I'm starting to feel like I'm in the minority of people who doesn't make severe judgements of people or their attitudes based on their typing. I kept to strict grammar rules (and run-on sentences (and obnoxious parentheticals)) for a long time. Maybe because I'm a reader, I guess. I find proper grammar clear and comfortable and I still prefer typing that way, which is part of why I'm comfortable on metafilter. It's sorta the house style here.
But that kind of gets to my point, which is different communities just communicate differently and meeting people where they're at seems important. My group chat at work doesn't really bother with capitalization or punctuation and so I leave it out there cause that's just how we're talking there. That seems normal? I find it a little weird that this seems to be a serious struggle for teh l4m3r n00bs
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 10:20 AM on April 7 [9 favorites]
But that kind of gets to my point, which is different communities just communicate differently and meeting people where they're at seems important. My group chat at work doesn't really bother with capitalization or punctuation and so I leave it out there cause that's just how we're talking there. That seems normal? I find it a little weird that this seems to be a serious struggle for teh l4m3r n00bs
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 10:20 AM on April 7 [9 favorites]
BEFORE THEN IT WAS ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME, and the earth was without form and void.
Curiously, the reason for telegraphs being in all caps is to prevent blasphemy by making it impossible to lowercase the word 'god'. Lowercase text, therefore, is an act of iconoclasm and defiance of god. Needless to say, I'm here for it.
god gave us a shift key, but the Iphone took it away.
posted by stet at 10:30 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
Curiously, the reason for telegraphs being in all caps is to prevent blasphemy by making it impossible to lowercase the word 'god'. Lowercase text, therefore, is an act of iconoclasm and defiance of god. Needless to say, I'm here for it.
god gave us a shift key, but the Iphone took it away.
posted by stet at 10:30 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
Seems like something only people with phones have to deal with.
Flexes data-entry hands and PC keyboard and contempt for cell phones.
posted by symbioid at 10:35 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
Flexes data-entry hands and PC keyboard and contempt for cell phones.
posted by symbioid at 10:35 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
never learned how to type properly (because you've always had a secretary to do that sort of thing for you)
Do schools teach typing by default? I've run into a few gen zs who toggle the Caps Lock to capitalize a single letter. My sampling is likely biased though, so maybe it's just a coincidence they were gen z. Their emails were always appropriately professional, with me though. But if that's how you capitalize I can see dropping it real fast if it's not needed.
My gen X boss is usually pretty formal in her email writing, but sometimes when we have a quick back and forth the responses get more like a instant message (short, not always complete sentences and likely lowercase). Usually I shes either slogging through a ton of stuff at that point or a kiddo is in one hand.
posted by ghost phoneme at 10:50 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
Do schools teach typing by default? I've run into a few gen zs who toggle the Caps Lock to capitalize a single letter. My sampling is likely biased though, so maybe it's just a coincidence they were gen z. Their emails were always appropriately professional, with me though. But if that's how you capitalize I can see dropping it real fast if it's not needed.
My gen X boss is usually pretty formal in her email writing, but sometimes when we have a quick back and forth the responses get more like a instant message (short, not always complete sentences and likely lowercase). Usually I shes either slogging through a ton of stuff at that point or a kiddo is in one hand.
posted by ghost phoneme at 10:50 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
While it doesn't bother me much whether my friends and coworkers use capitals in texts, I personally can't stand to not use correct grammar/punctuation/capitalization, including when I'm using a phone. That includes typing two spaces after a period, because (a) it was permanent muscle memory long before the internet came to be and (b) I honestly prefer that look. I'm a little annoyed that metafilter (and other places) removes the second space, and the single spacing makes it harder for me to read things - the older I get, the more invisible that single-pixel period gets...
By the same token I'm always distressed by things like typos and misspellings in my writing, even here on metafilter despite knowing nobody's very bothered by that sort of thing.
On the other hand, there are certain times when I enjoy deliberately ignoring or twisting the usual rules of grammar if I'm going for a specific effect in the pursuit of humor:
the first letter of words he deems important are Capitalized for Emphasis.
I do that occasionally, because I find the implied pomposity humorous. I picked up the idea from A. A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" stories.
posted by greg_Ace at 10:56 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
By the same token I'm always distressed by things like typos and misspellings in my writing, even here on metafilter despite knowing nobody's very bothered by that sort of thing.
On the other hand, there are certain times when I enjoy deliberately ignoring or twisting the usual rules of grammar if I'm going for a specific effect in the pursuit of humor:
the first letter of words he deems important are Capitalized for Emphasis.
I do that occasionally, because I find the implied pomposity humorous. I picked up the idea from A. A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" stories.
posted by greg_Ace at 10:56 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
Yeah if we’re going to make arbitrary judgements based on typing style I’m just going to assume that if all of your messages are fully capitalized and punctuated you’re sitting on your ass in an office job with nothing else to do but compose your Very Important Missives. And/or you have a secretary. The only person at my job who communicates exclusively like that is the CEO, the rest of us are busy trying to provide healthcare.
(Of course this is entirely tongue and cheek and I have no intention of adopting these assumptions—I simply don’t have the time or emotional energy to think that hard about people’s typing style unless it’s a significant departure from their norm.)
posted by brook horse at 11:01 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
(Of course this is entirely tongue and cheek and I have no intention of adopting these assumptions—I simply don’t have the time or emotional energy to think that hard about people’s typing style unless it’s a significant departure from their norm.)
posted by brook horse at 11:01 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
the first letter of words he deems important are Capitalized for Emphasis.
My students (Ugs) do this so often I have a prepared copy and paste sentence telling them not to do it.
posted by biffa at 11:03 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
My students (Ugs) do this so often I have a prepared copy and paste sentence telling them not to do it.
posted by biffa at 11:03 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
(g/g)od
overhead, without any fuss, the stars start to go out...
posted by greg_Ace at 11:06 AM on April 7 [6 favorites]
overhead, without any fuss, the stars start to go out...
posted by greg_Ace at 11:06 AM on April 7 [6 favorites]
I had to let an old boss of mine know that people weren't doing the two spaces after a period thing anymore. I had written something to send to a client and she was adamant that two spaces was correct and one space was wrong and that the client would think poorly of us receiving something with one space after. I found articles supporting my position and she accepted it thankfully. But she wasn't happy about it. This was over a decade ago.
posted by downtohisturtles at 11:08 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
posted by downtohisturtles at 11:08 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
Honorable mention to Don Marquis' Archy and Mehitabel. Archy the cockroach always types in lowercase because, being a cockroach that types by jumping from key to key, he can't hold down the shift key when he types.
So congrats cool kids! You type like a 100-year-old cockroach.
posted by SPrintF at 11:15 AM on April 7 [10 favorites]
So congrats cool kids! You type like a 100-year-old cockroach.
posted by SPrintF at 11:15 AM on April 7 [10 favorites]
He that wishes to express himself with courtesy and clarity must perforce employ the use of capitalization. I do so desire; in my own writing, I use the methods I learned during my education and during my many years of infatuation with the literature of the English speaking world, most especially the British whose literature was held to be preeminent during my formative years. I cannot but admit this gives my writing a tone and a voice which must be held to be anything but contemporary. Whether I will or no, I revert again to the involved periods and rotund orations of an era long previous to my own youth. Indeed, few will dispute that my written words reveal a sad want of adaptability and conformity. In short - not only in punctuation and capitalization, but in grammar, vocabulary, construction and cadence, I write in much the style of your great-great-great-grandfather of long forgotten memory, if that late individual had been a pompous ass.
yeh, gunna use capital letters if i wanna, but it make me sound weird cuz it so out of date now
posted by Jane the Brown at 11:17 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
yeh, gunna use capital letters if i wanna, but it make me sound weird cuz it so out of date now
posted by Jane the Brown at 11:17 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
So congrats cool kids! You type like a 100-year-old cockroach.
this would do numbers on tumblr
posted by brook horse at 11:22 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
this would do numbers on tumblr
posted by brook horse at 11:22 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
metafilter: rotund orations of an era
posted by greg_Ace at 11:23 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
posted by greg_Ace at 11:23 AM on April 7 [3 favorites]
Do schools teach typing by default?
I'm gen X, and took a semester typing class in high school, so this is basically it for me. I'm not paying any kind of special attention to making sure things are properly capitalized when I write (with a keyboard), it just kind of happens without me thinking about it. On my phone, the autocorrect does a pretty good job of recognizing when I need a capital, or I capitalize something on purpose so I don't have to go back and fix how autocorrect changed it when I didn't capitalize it in the first place so it was recognized as a proper name or something.
posted by LionIndex at 11:44 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
I'm gen X, and took a semester typing class in high school, so this is basically it for me. I'm not paying any kind of special attention to making sure things are properly capitalized when I write (with a keyboard), it just kind of happens without me thinking about it. On my phone, the autocorrect does a pretty good job of recognizing when I need a capital, or I capitalize something on purpose so I don't have to go back and fix how autocorrect changed it when I didn't capitalize it in the first place so it was recognized as a proper name or something.
posted by LionIndex at 11:44 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
Every time one of these threads comes up, I'm surprised again how much people are apparently assuming from something as arbitrary and ambiguous as capitalization and punctuation. It makes me realize how much of my time in my life and professional career has probably been wasted by trying to clearly say what I mean with words, because people aren't really reading those words anyway, they're looking at ambiguous contextual information and deciding that I mean something other than what I actually said because I used a period, or wrote a complete sentence instead of an abbreviation, or whatever.
posted by biogeo at 12:14 PM on April 7 [9 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 12:14 PM on April 7 [9 favorites]
Whatever. As long as you don’t repeat numbers in parentheses after you spell them out.
posted by The Monster at the End of this Thread at 12:17 PM on April 7 [1 favorite]
posted by The Monster at the End of this Thread at 12:17 PM on April 7 [1 favorite]
twee, very e.e. cummings
e.e. was anything but twee.
posted by chavenet at 12:18 PM on April 7 [2 favorites]
e.e. was anything but twee.
posted by chavenet at 12:18 PM on April 7 [2 favorites]
As a civil engineer, I just hate how so many things in my field, including every word on every plan sheet, is in all caps. My personal opinion is that whether a word is capitalized or not is a layer of meaning, and using all of either case removes some of that meeting.
posted by The Monster at the End of this Thread at 12:19 PM on April 7 [3 favorites]
posted by The Monster at the End of this Thread at 12:19 PM on April 7 [3 favorites]
How hard is it to hit the space key twice?
Not necessary with modern proportional fonts. Two spaces after a full stop was standard on old typewriters that used fixed-width fonts (like Courier), but it hasn't been recommended for typing for decades now. All the major style guides (AP, APA, Chicago, Oxford) recommend a single space.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 12:20 PM on April 7 [5 favorites]
Not necessary with modern proportional fonts. Two spaces after a full stop was standard on old typewriters that used fixed-width fonts (like Courier), but it hasn't been recommended for typing for decades now. All the major style guides (AP, APA, Chicago, Oxford) recommend a single space.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 12:20 PM on April 7 [5 favorites]
As long as you don’t repeat numbers in parentheses after you spell them out.
Hey, if it was good enough for ACME it's good enough for me!
posted by greg_Ace at 12:23 PM on April 7 [1 favorite]
Hey, if it was good enough for ACME it's good enough for me!
posted by greg_Ace at 12:23 PM on April 7 [1 favorite]
the first letter of words he deems important are Capitalized for Emphasis.
I do this a lot, and I'm not sure if it started as a result of achewood or my studying german, but now it's an invaluable part of my work communications, since I can never expect my coworkers/superiors to actually read emails, so I just instinctively capitalize key words and phrases like "If you get nothing else from this before you call me in two minutes to ask me questions I'm answering as clearly as possible here, hopefully at least we can be using the same terminology?"
Likewise due to achewood, the all-lowercase thing doesn't bug me, but does have the effect of making most of twitter read in my head like Roast Beef, which is kind of endearing but also definitely a vibe that most tweets probably aren't specifically going for.
posted by Navelgazer at 12:37 PM on April 7 [5 favorites]
I do this a lot, and I'm not sure if it started as a result of achewood or my studying german, but now it's an invaluable part of my work communications, since I can never expect my coworkers/superiors to actually read emails, so I just instinctively capitalize key words and phrases like "If you get nothing else from this before you call me in two minutes to ask me questions I'm answering as clearly as possible here, hopefully at least we can be using the same terminology?"
Likewise due to achewood, the all-lowercase thing doesn't bug me, but does have the effect of making most of twitter read in my head like Roast Beef, which is kind of endearing but also definitely a vibe that most tweets probably aren't specifically going for.
posted by Navelgazer at 12:37 PM on April 7 [5 favorites]
I'm starting to feel like I'm in the minority of people who doesn't make severe judgements of people or their attitudes based on their typing.
Yeah, I deal with undergrads a lot and don't really give a damn how they type stuff in emails as long as I can make heads or tails of it.
posted by gCU Sweet and Full of grace at 12:39 PM on April 7 [3 favorites]
Yeah, I deal with undergrads a lot and don't really give a damn how they type stuff in emails as long as I can make heads or tails of it.
posted by gCU Sweet and Full of grace at 12:39 PM on April 7 [3 favorites]
On the other hand, there are certain times when I enjoy deliberately ignoring or twisting the usual rules of grammar if I'm going for a specific effect in the pursuit of humor
Exactly. I usually made a point to use correct capitalisation and punctuation so that when I didn't, the reader would know that it Meant Something. (see what I did there?)
I also used to get fairly upset when colleagues would have errors, and especially when they would use one letter abbreviations (like "u", "y", 2). After a while, I realised that I was being a jerk with that attitude, especially when it was a colleague who didn't speak English as a first language.
These days, one of the hallmarks of generative AI is a strictly proper style, including grammar and use of capitals, so I wonder if the occasional error slipped in becomes more common, as a hallmark of an actual human behind the keyboard.
posted by penguinicity at 12:51 PM on April 7 [4 favorites]
Exactly. I usually made a point to use correct capitalisation and punctuation so that when I didn't, the reader would know that it Meant Something. (see what I did there?)
I also used to get fairly upset when colleagues would have errors, and especially when they would use one letter abbreviations (like "u", "y", 2). After a while, I realised that I was being a jerk with that attitude, especially when it was a colleague who didn't speak English as a first language.
These days, one of the hallmarks of generative AI is a strictly proper style, including grammar and use of capitals, so I wonder if the occasional error slipped in becomes more common, as a hallmark of an actual human behind the keyboard.
posted by penguinicity at 12:51 PM on April 7 [4 favorites]
ill never grow up either
posted by sammyo at 12:55 PM on April 7 [2 favorites]
posted by sammyo at 12:55 PM on April 7 [2 favorites]
totally agree that (g/g)od gave us the semicolon for a reason, the foulest vice is the comma splice.We have ‘eponysterical’; is it time for ‘orthographysterical’?
posted by It is regrettable that at 1:14 PM on April 7 [3 favorites]
Trivia: what word changes its meaning and pronunciation when capitalized?SPrintF, also ‘reading’, for the same kind of reason.
posted by It is regrettable that at 1:17 PM on April 7 [5 favorites]
dancestoblue, I think there's something actively evil with conventional schooling because of its combination of not teaching people what they need to know and excluding people for failing to learn unnecessary things. I'm glad things worked out for you.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 1:37 PM on April 7 [4 favorites]
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 1:37 PM on April 7 [4 favorites]
.
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 1:47 PM on April 7 [11 favorites]
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 1:47 PM on April 7 [11 favorites]
I inſiſt on strict correctneſs in all matters orthographical.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 2:07 PM on April 7 [9 favorites]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 2:07 PM on April 7 [9 favorites]
I'm an old now. When I took typing in high school we used typewriters. My muscles are trained to use capital letters and two spaces after a period. Yes, you can teach old dogs new tricks, but I'd like to save my brain power for learning something I want to learn.
Type however you damn well please. Just don't judge. Even though I know much people are judging me.
posted by kathrynm at 2:51 PM on April 7 [5 favorites]
Type however you damn well please. Just don't judge. Even though I know much people are judging me.
posted by kathrynm at 2:51 PM on April 7 [5 favorites]
We never should have given up our medial esses. Or our thorns, for that matter. English, You FOOL!
posted by genjiandProust at 3:30 PM on April 7 [3 favorites]
posted by genjiandProust at 3:30 PM on April 7 [3 favorites]
raise yr hand if u text like its 2007 + it'll cost 10 cts per msg over plan's max. thus all must be crammed into 160 characters, hallo contractions u hate
posted by spamandkimchi at 3:45 PM on April 7 [1 favorite]
posted by spamandkimchi at 3:45 PM on April 7 [1 favorite]
My muscles are trained to use capital letters and two spaces after a period.
I've had to switch back and forth a few times. I also had a typing class in high school on old-school typewriters where the rule was two spaces. Then at some point in college I figured out that one space was typographically correct and used that for a long time. Then, within the last decade, I had to switch back to two spaces for a couple of years because of a very nice but also very stuck in his ways tech editor who imposed that on all documents as the house style. He finally took his well-deserved retirement and I'm thankfully back to one space, as it should be.
But at least for me, it has never been hard to switch back and forth. I have muscle memory for both and it's fairly easy to stay in one pattern or the other.
posted by Dip Flash at 3:54 PM on April 7
I've had to switch back and forth a few times. I also had a typing class in high school on old-school typewriters where the rule was two spaces. Then at some point in college I figured out that one space was typographically correct and used that for a long time. Then, within the last decade, I had to switch back to two spaces for a couple of years because of a very nice but also very stuck in his ways tech editor who imposed that on all documents as the house style. He finally took his well-deserved retirement and I'm thankfully back to one space, as it should be.
But at least for me, it has never been hard to switch back and forth. I have muscle memory for both and it's fairly easy to stay in one pattern or the other.
posted by Dip Flash at 3:54 PM on April 7
My high-school English teacher beat me over the head regularly, red-penciling my essays over my misuse of commas. She was even more brutal about misplaced modifiers. When I finally graduated, I was beginning to wonder if English might be my second language. I was a voracious reader, mainly of Science Fiction (don't you dare use the diminutive Sy Fy in my presence), but I never bothered to unsuspend my disbelief enough to notice the tricks and tropes used by those authors I loved so much.
Then, I stumbled across the works of Hess, Le guin, and Henry James. James, especially, was mesmerizing. His stories are master classes in using dependent clauses to tug readers down a rabbit hole but deposit them back on solid ground. I barely noticed that I seldom gave a tinker's dam about the characters or the plot. John gardner (of grendel fame, not those other assholes) taught me just to let the characters do what they do, copy down what I see, and stay out of their way. I can edit it later.
I took typing. I could type 80 wpm with few errors by the time I graduated. I also picked up a lot of baggage most boys carried in those days. For example, at university, I had the term "misogyny" explained to me in no uncertain terms by young women who were not inclined to pay attention to my uninformed opinions.
I won't belabor this transition. I mean to use it to bracket my paradigm. If you are my age, you probably share many things I used to help define me—that's to say, my times. I don't believe a sentence has to be technically correct to be understood, but it should not be ungrammatical because the writer is too lazy to read it for clarity. And so on.
I have mentioned (elsewhere) that the times are sliding away from my paradigm more quickly daily. If you whippersnappers understand what you are doing, then go for it. I notice that the "generation gap," as we liked to call it, has become much more incremental than it was in my day, before the invention of sliced bread. I won't be around when it's your turn to whine, so let me get my last laugh in while I can.
BTW, I don't type with my thumbs. I use them for the space bar.
posted by mule98J at 3:54 PM on April 7
Then, I stumbled across the works of Hess, Le guin, and Henry James. James, especially, was mesmerizing. His stories are master classes in using dependent clauses to tug readers down a rabbit hole but deposit them back on solid ground. I barely noticed that I seldom gave a tinker's dam about the characters or the plot. John gardner (of grendel fame, not those other assholes) taught me just to let the characters do what they do, copy down what I see, and stay out of their way. I can edit it later.
I took typing. I could type 80 wpm with few errors by the time I graduated. I also picked up a lot of baggage most boys carried in those days. For example, at university, I had the term "misogyny" explained to me in no uncertain terms by young women who were not inclined to pay attention to my uninformed opinions.
I won't belabor this transition. I mean to use it to bracket my paradigm. If you are my age, you probably share many things I used to help define me—that's to say, my times. I don't believe a sentence has to be technically correct to be understood, but it should not be ungrammatical because the writer is too lazy to read it for clarity. And so on.
I have mentioned (elsewhere) that the times are sliding away from my paradigm more quickly daily. If you whippersnappers understand what you are doing, then go for it. I notice that the "generation gap," as we liked to call it, has become much more incremental than it was in my day, before the invention of sliced bread. I won't be around when it's your turn to whine, so let me get my last laugh in while I can.
BTW, I don't type with my thumbs. I use them for the space bar.
posted by mule98J at 3:54 PM on April 7
It's funny to see the Capitalization For Emphasis thing (or WORSE) characterized as republican/fascist, since before then wasn't it the house style for baby boomer aunts/uncles/etc. sending along FW: FW: FW: [subject] emails? (I'd assumed Trump just gleaned it from that vernacular, the vernacular of people who want to be Convinced of something tenuous. Bill gates is tracking all of these and will send YOU money.)
posted by nobody at 4:59 PM on April 7
posted by nobody at 4:59 PM on April 7
A number of people here seem to have missed the memo that different dialects and different registers of English exist, and that something is not "incorrect" or "ungrammatical" merely by virtue of being in a dialect or register different from the one you yourself default to.
posted by adrienneleigh at 5:06 PM on April 7 [1 favorite]
posted by adrienneleigh at 5:06 PM on April 7 [1 favorite]
In a bit late, but semicolons are Satan’s punctuation.
Here, I fixed that for you: In a bit late; semicolons are Satan’s punctuation.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:35 PM on April 7
Here, I fixed that for you: In a bit late; semicolons are Satan’s punctuation.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:35 PM on April 7
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posted by flabdablet at 2:05 AM on April 7 [19 favorites]