# Using Capital Letters For The First Letter Of Every Word **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 27, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915 "2007-02-27T19:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/1 "2007-02-27T19:46:00Z")
Why Do Some People Write Like This? I Guess It’s Better Than All Caps. Is Their Brain Just Wired Differently? ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/2 "2007-02-27T19:46:50Z")
Oooooh. It looks _so official_… ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/3 "2007-02-27T19:55:58Z")
My theory on this approach as well as the ALL CAPS variety: it covers the fact that the writer has no idea what the rules for capitalization are. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/4 "2007-02-27T19:59:44Z")
If you saw it on this board (or some other V-Bulletin board), chances _are_ it started out as an ALL CAPS posting. Because an all-caps posting (without any lower case letters at all) is automatically converted by the software to all-initial-caps. Try it out in a test post in ATMB. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/5 "2007-02-27T20:06:17Z")
I Write Like This For Titles, Like Thread Titles. Why people would write that way all the time, I don’t know. but i find it less annoying than this but only marginally so. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/6 "2007-02-27T20:28:17Z")
What I find even more annoying is the Randomly capitalized word, as if the person In question thinks that by Capitalizing a word in the Middle of a sentence will indicate a Certain degree of Emphasis be placed Thereon. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/7 "2007-02-27T21:38:25Z")
People who’s native tongue is German will tend toward capitalizing all nouns (proper AND common) which is the rule for that language. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/8 "2007-02-27T21:43:18Z")
[QUOTE=McNew] What I find even more annoying is the Randomly capitalized word, as if the person In question thinks that by Capitalizing a word in the Middle of a sentence will indicate a Certain degree of Emphasis be placed Thereon. [/QUOTE] Yes, and then they get mad at you for pointing it out, as someone did on these boards. I forget the name, but they were hawking something, only they dind’t even realize it, and when I pointed out the annoying capitalization HABIT, he said he only did it because they WERE important. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/9 "2007-02-27T22:29:23Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] Why Do Some People Write Like This? I Guess It’s Better Than All Caps. Is Their Brain Just Wired Differently? [/QUOTE] Well, If They All Share One Brain, It Stands To Reason That They’d Act A Bit Screwy Sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/10 "2007-02-27T23:03:01Z")
WouLd yOU raTher sEe RaNdom cApitaLs in thE miDdle oF The wOrds, oR at tHe beGinIng? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/11 "2007-02-27T23:19:48Z")
?hat ?ight ?e ?un ?ould ?e ?ither ?o ?apitals ?t ?ll ?r ?ome ?laceholder ?ike ?his. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/12 "2007-02-28T01:46:59Z")
[QUOTE=McNew] What I find even more annoying is the Randomly capitalized word, as if the person In question thinks that by Capitalizing a word in the Middle of a sentence will indicate a Certain degree of Emphasis be placed Thereon. [/QUOTE] I do that, sometimes, when I’m channeling Milne. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/13 "2007-02-28T06:27:29Z")
I have a habit of “Germanizing” certain English words using capital letters - for instance, I always capitalize Gay and Lesbian when writing in a thread, just as I capitalize Black or Jewish or Asian…it is just my own personal tic and for me it shows a certain cultural respect, even though capitalizing Gay and Lesbian is not grammatically correct. On the other hand, I never capitalize my own (real life) name when I write it; not in my passport, drivers license or anywhere - not since about 5th grade when I wrote a paper at school and didn’t capitalize the word god…my teacher said, “if you capitalize your own name, then you can capitalize God’s name.” From that point on, both god and I have kept our names in small case. However, in titles of threads, I think it looks better to capitalize every word, and is a journalistic style that seems more fitting in thread titles. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/14 "2007-02-28T11:12:36Z")
[QUOTE=McNew] What I find even more annoying is the Randomly capitalized word, as if the person In question thinks that by Capitalizing a word in the Middle of a sentence will indicate a Certain degree of Emphasis be placed Thereon. [/QUOTE] **What Exit** , front and centre! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/15 "2007-02-28T11:23:53Z")
[QUOTE=Kat] I do that, sometimes, when I’m channeling Milne. [/QUOTE] Me too. It’s a Very Fun Habit that seems to annoy some Others. Can’t really bring myself to care a whole lot - I have more important things to worry about. And I absolutely do it intentionally, as it changes (in my head, anyway) the pacing of a sentence. When one writes long and often grammatically complex sentences, one needs a Virtual Yield Sign to warn the reader of a slightly tongue in cheek sense of overimportance and verbosity. It’s like air quotes for writing. (And no, quote quotes don’t serve quite the same function as air quotes. When I use quote quotes at “random”, it’s more ironic than a Proper Noun Generator.) It’s pretty much writing with Truthiness. You can just hear the capitals when Stephen Colbert talks, can’t you? I can. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/16 "2007-02-28T12:04:19Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] Why Do Some People Write Like This? I Guess It’s Better Than All Caps. Is Their Brain Just Wired Differently? [/QUOTE] Maybe they’re [golems](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golems_%28Discworld%29)? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/17 "2007-02-28T12:16:44Z")
Amusingly, I just popped over to the SDMB after getting disgusted at another board in which people keep writing entire posts without _any_ capital letters. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/18 "2007-02-28T12:29:24Z")
[QUOTE=Gorgon Heap] Amusingly, I just popped over to the SDMB after getting disgusted at another board in which people keep writing entire posts without _any_ capital letters. [/QUOTE] yes be thankful that we dont do that here some people dont even use punctuation ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/19 "2007-02-28T12:33:03Z")
[QUOTE=Alive At Both Ends] yes be thankful that we dont do that here some people dont even use punctuation [/QUOTE] you geezers shud be hapy we hv speling and mostly ful wrds here nvrmind pnctuashun now get off of MY lawn grampa 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915/20 "2007-02-28T12:40:53Z")
[QUOTE=McNew] What I find even more annoying is the Randomly capitalized word, as if the person In question thinks that by Capitalizing a word in the Middle of a sentence will indicate a Certain degree of Emphasis be placed Thereon. [/QUOTE] I’ve been known to write like this, but I tend to stick to capitalising Nouns, Adjectives, and/or Verbs, rather than Random Words. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-capital-letters-for-the-first-letter-of-every-word/393915.md?page=2)