MossRoad
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All caps - Wikipedia
Association with shouting Edit
Messages typed completely in capital letters are often equated on social media to shouting and other impolite or argumentative behaviors. This became a mainstream interpretation with the advent of networked computers, from the 1980s onward. However a similar interpretation was already evidenced by written sources that predated the computing era, in some cases by at least a century, and the textual display of shouting or emphasis online was not a settled matter as at 1984. The following sources may be relevant to the history of all-caps:[10]
The 6 September 1958 edition of Bookseller: The Organ of the Book Trade describes writing in lower-case "rather than shouting with all caps. The effect is pleasing to anybody in a contemplative mood."
The 17 April 1856 Yorkville Enquirer (South Carolina) uses the expression "This time he shouted it out in capital letters".
The 1880 The Standard speaker and elocutionist book has a section titled "SHOUTING STYLE", which states that "This will be seldom needed throughout an entire piece, but wherever the words imply calling, or commanding, it will be in keeping with the words to employ it. As examples note the following selections marked in CAPITAL letters as the appropriate place for shouting emphasis." A large number of literature examples are given where all caps has been used for shouting.
A 2014 article on netiquette (online etiquette) in New Republic titled "How Capital Letters Became Internet Code for Yelling",[11] which states that
According to Professor Paul Luna (department of typography and graphic communication at the University of Reading), all caps have been used "to convey grandeur, pomposity, or aesthetic seriousness for thousands of years", and for many years to express anger or shouting in print. Examples are cited such as pianist Philippa Schuyler's biography titled "Composition in Black and White" in the 1940s which used all-caps to "yell", and Robert Moses in the 1970s who used all caps to "convey rage" at a draft of a book.
Online newsgroups and bulletin board posts from around 1984 show that a user still needed to explain that "if it's in caps i'm trying to YELL",[12] and another summed up that there seemed to be a developing consensus that emphasis was given to words by all caps or surrounding them with *...* symbols.[13]
Further online discussion in 1984 included comments such as "Capitalizing whole words gives the impression that you're shouting".[13]
Association with shouting Edit
Messages typed completely in capital letters are often equated on social media to shouting and other impolite or argumentative behaviors. This became a mainstream interpretation with the advent of networked computers, from the 1980s onward. However a similar interpretation was already evidenced by written sources that predated the computing era, in some cases by at least a century, and the textual display of shouting or emphasis online was not a settled matter as at 1984. The following sources may be relevant to the history of all-caps:[10]
The 6 September 1958 edition of Bookseller: The Organ of the Book Trade describes writing in lower-case "rather than shouting with all caps. The effect is pleasing to anybody in a contemplative mood."
The 17 April 1856 Yorkville Enquirer (South Carolina) uses the expression "This time he shouted it out in capital letters".
The 1880 The Standard speaker and elocutionist book has a section titled "SHOUTING STYLE", which states that "This will be seldom needed throughout an entire piece, but wherever the words imply calling, or commanding, it will be in keeping with the words to employ it. As examples note the following selections marked in CAPITAL letters as the appropriate place for shouting emphasis." A large number of literature examples are given where all caps has been used for shouting.
A 2014 article on netiquette (online etiquette) in New Republic titled "How Capital Letters Became Internet Code for Yelling",[11] which states that
According to Professor Paul Luna (department of typography and graphic communication at the University of Reading), all caps have been used "to convey grandeur, pomposity, or aesthetic seriousness for thousands of years", and for many years to express anger or shouting in print. Examples are cited such as pianist Philippa Schuyler's biography titled "Composition in Black and White" in the 1940s which used all-caps to "yell", and Robert Moses in the 1970s who used all caps to "convey rage" at a draft of a book.
Online newsgroups and bulletin board posts from around 1984 show that a user still needed to explain that "if it's in caps i'm trying to YELL",[12] and another summed up that there seemed to be a developing consensus that emphasis was given to words by all caps or surrounding them with *...* symbols.[13]
Further online discussion in 1984 included comments such as "Capitalizing whole words gives the impression that you're shouting".[13]