# What the hell is up with the Caps Lock people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 11, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161 "2008-02-11T16:38:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161/81 "2016-04-14T16:14:34Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’ve turned my CapsLock off, because I keep accidentally hitting it. Horrible key. Ooh! How’d you do that? I had to remove the key from the keyboard, and I still sometimes hit the nub I also removed my F12 key because it was to damned close to the backspace key, which is my most-used key, because I’m a terrible typist because I constantly look at the keyboard and my hand/eye coordination sucks. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161/82 "2016-04-15T02:29:56Z")
I’m surprised no one defended the old layout that switched the layout of left CTRL and CAPS. No teletype, early IBM PC, or Unix users? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161/83 "2016-04-15T02:40:14Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > There is one poster here that is hard of hearing. > > I use solid caps only for her. She’s lucky. There is at least one poster here who is dead. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161/84 "2016-04-15T15:49:44Z")
[QUOTE=asterion] I’m surprised no one defended the old layout that switched the layout of left CTRL and CAPS. No teletype, early IBM PC, or Unix users? [/QUOTE] I hid in my foxhole during the Northgate/IBM and Qwerty/Dvorak Wars. I can’t imagine any right-minded person defending the [IBM Model F](http://www.clickykeyboard.com/2005/oct272005/oct272005-011.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161/85 "2016-04-15T21:48:58Z")
When I got this keyboard I promptly tore out the caps lock key-its such a pain when I try for those letters over there… Its a rare occasion that I would need it. Rather go without ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161/86 "2016-04-15T23:31:54Z")
> [@Belrix](#): > > Nah - can’t be this… > probably people to don’t type much, never got the hang of the keyboard, and are basically hunting and pecking. I teach Computer Graphics classes. I never learned to touch-type, but I can hit 100 wpm by basically glancing down and hitting the desired key with any finger that’s closest to the key at the time. But one of my fellow teachers types incredibly s l o w l y . He’s in his sixties, and never had to type (there were kids at his school that’d type up papers from his hand-scrawled pages). So he starts by searching the keyboard left-to-right, each row at a time (as he scans, I picture him thinking “Do I want a Q? No… a W? An E? Hows’bout an R?”). Then, when he spots the key, picks up one hand and makes a slow arc, extending his index finger and pressing the key. Looks back up at the screen: Ah! Finally! (“Hey, that worked well… Now, which key do I need next? An L! Is it in the top row… Q, W, E, R…?”) Now, keep in mind, this guy is TEACHING A COMPUTER CLASS! [/proper use of capslock] So he’s got a classroom of keyboard-savvy college students watching his results projected large up front. Luckily, he’s teaching Adobe products where mostly he’s typing keyboard shortcuts or inputting numbers into a dialog box, and occasionally a few words to name a file. But what happens when everyone has to wait while he types an entire sentence? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161/87 "2016-04-16T03:06:12Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I teach Computer Graphics classes. I never learned to touch-type, but I can hit 100 wpm by basically glancing down and hitting the desired key with any finger that’s closest to the key at the time. That is difficult to believe. I was taught C in graduate school by a mathematician who hunted and pecked. He was a very good programmer. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161/88 "2016-04-16T14:06:14Z")
I do use the insert key when I think of a better word to use on a previous sentence. My only problem with the space bar is that sometime it stutters and when I get on a roll typing myt extco meso utloo king liket his. GRRH. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161/89 "2016-04-16T21:58:40Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > That is difficult to believe. Well, the catch is that if I’ve got a deadline and I’m trying for a speed record, I’m staring at my fingers on the keyboard. Not a problem… until something happens on-screen like a dialog box popping up. Then my last sentence or two just got typed into the aether… and I curse myself for dropping that touch-typing class in HS (on non-electric typewriters, where I couldn’t get the hang of hitting each key with equal massive force, even if using my left pinkie). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161/90 "2016-04-17T00:18:40Z")
Thais use all-caps a lot when writing English. I think they think it looks cool, plus then they don’t have to bother figuring out which letters are supposed to be capped to begin with. (The Thai alphabet has just one case, no upper and lower.) I agreed to help one guy review the essay for his application to graduate school in the US, and when he brought it to me, it was ALL CAPS. Me: “Why on earth would you do such a thing??!?” Him: “My friend advised me to do it. He said it would increase my chances of being accepted by the school.” I told him a) his friend was an idiot, and b) if anything, it would guarantee his rejection, because who’s going to want to read something like that for two years? Told him to write it like normal or else I would not read it since it was hurting my eyes just looking at it. He did, and his essay was actually good. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161/91 "2016-04-17T00:54:42Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I told him a) his friend was an idiot, Or, not his friend. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161/92 "2016-04-17T01:24:59Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Or, not his friend. Nah, this is a common misconception among Thais, more than common, that writing all-caps is good English and will prove your mastery of it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161/93 "2016-04-17T02:13:02Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Nah, this is a common misconception among Thais, more than common, that writing all-caps is good English and will prove your mastery of it. That is odd. :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-caps-lock-people/437161.md?page=4)