# Would All Caps Have Bothered You If It Wasn't Associated With Shouting? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2002, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236 "2002-12-21T16:43:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/1 "2002-12-21T16:43:00Z")
Why do we hate all cap posts? Is it because it is an attempt to gain attention by being bolder than the surrounding posts? Is it aethestically unpleasing? Is it visually jarring? Is it the actual visual relative to the other lettering or is it the intentions of the persons writing them that bothers us? Does anyone else squint when they see them as if they are actually being shouted at? ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/2 "2002-12-21T16:44:17Z")
Wow there is an anti-all caps feature. The OP subject was originally all-capped. Irony is fun! ---
**Author:** ![Erika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/47e85d/32.png) [@Erika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erika)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/3 "2002-12-21T16:55:19Z")
They do strike me as loud, but that may very well be by association. The reason they _really_ annoy me is that they’re difficult to read. It takes a little longer/more concentration to sort the letters. And, as a general trend, persons inclined to type entirely in CAPS tend not to be worth the effort to read. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/4 "2002-12-21T17:07:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KidCharlemagne \* > \*\*Wow there is an anti-all caps feature. \*\* can we get an anti-lower case feature too please? ALL CAPITALS is harder to read. It also looks like the poster is trying to make their post stand out above all the others, so it is really the equivalent of shouting everyone else down. Same with big fonts. Either way, it makes you appear either as a big mouth idiot or supremely arrogant. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/5 "2002-12-21T17:14:27Z")
Like others have said, it is difficult to read all caps, especially whole paragraphs written in all caps. I don’t mind a word or two, but blocks of text in all caps are eye wrecking. I see it a lot on eBay, and like auctions with music, busy backgrounds, or animated gifs, I just back out without reading further. It is annoying from another point of view too - the fact that all caps users somehow think what they have to say (or sell) is more important that what anyone else is saying (or selling). I dislike it intensely. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/6 "2002-12-21T17:16:03Z")
BTW, the reason that ALL-CAPS is hard to read is that all of the letters are the same height. The varying heights of letters in lower case makes the words easier to scan. Using upper case where it’s called for, like at the beginnings of sentences, makes for easier scanning, as well. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/7 "2002-12-21T17:16:31Z")
Same thing, IMHO, with all lower case, or not separating out quotes (one way or another) from new material, or obscure abbreviations. If a person has to work too hard to figure out the post, than the style has overpowered the message and it may as well be in ancient cuneiform. It’s a message board, not AOL Instant Messaging. Of course, parody, jokes, hyperbole, etc… are exempt from ire. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/8 "2002-12-21T17:48:51Z")
I date from the days of all-caps on (yellow) paper model 33 Teletypes. Then all-caps “glass teletypes” etc. I don’t associate it with shouting, but with stupidity. It’s hard to read. The author is stupid. Move on and don’t read it. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/9 "2002-12-21T18:20:00Z")
I’d say for the same reason we hate smokers or SUV drivers. They are doing something that benefits them (not having to worry about proper capatilization - all caps, enjoyment - smoking, safty - SUV) at the **direct** expense of everyone else (harder to read - All caps, creating a terrible odor - smoking, more of a threat to others - SUV). Just my humble O ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/10 "2002-12-21T18:34:16Z")
EVEN AS A FORTRAN HACKER, I DON’T ENJOY ALL-CAPS. IT STILL LOOKS PRETTY GODDAMNED STUPID TO ME NOW THAT US-ASCII HAS OFFICIALLY DEFINED CODEPOINTS FOR LOWER-CASE LETTERS. Now, wasn’t that needlessly hard to read? Isn’t mixed-case so much easier to comprehend? I associate it with idiots on chat systems who also use MoRonCaPZ names and excessive punctuation!!!1!!!111!!! ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/11 "2002-12-21T19:08:13Z")
All caps slows down my reading/skimming… ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/12 "2002-12-21T19:14:02Z")
Looking now, it really is a lot harder to read. ---
**Author:** ![Popsicle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Popsicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popsicle)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/13 "2002-12-22T00:26:26Z")
All caps certainly slows down skimming and speed reading. Recognising the actual shapes of words is as important to efficient reading as the spellings. Using all capitals and thereby standardising the typeface into a series of tiny rectangles removes the opportunity for the reader to get through the text easily. This has often made me wonder why legal notices on contracts, disclaimers, copyright info and the like sometimes use capital letters for text that is already worded difficultly. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/14 "2002-12-22T14:31:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Popsicle \* > \*\*This has often made me wonder why legal notices on contracts, disclaimers, copyright info and the like sometimes use capital letters for text that is already worded difficultly. \*\* Because they DON’T want you to skim or speed-read it. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/15 "2002-12-24T04:41:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Futile Gesture \* > \*\*Because they DON’T want you to skim or speed-read it. \*\* The problem is, unless I’m really interested in what they are saying, that will likely keep me from reading it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/16 "2002-12-24T05:24:48Z")
Interestingly enough, in architecture, all of our notes are in caps. This is for clarity, I have been told. Perhaps it is also that it makes you slow down to read it - skimming is not a good idea for construction documents. To further clarify writing, we rarely use i’s and o’s as a call out letter. they look too much like 1’s and 0’s. Most of the time, when at work, my e-mails from co-workers are all in caps. It’s not shouting to us… it’s: “I’m in the middle of working on a spec sheet”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/17 "2002-12-24T05:32:49Z")
The only reason I don’t like it is that it makes whoever wrote it look dumb. They seem to come off as “immature” by writing in all caps. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/18 "2002-12-24T06:28:33Z")
All of the above. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/19 "2002-12-24T14:23:30Z")
Reading in all caps is difficult for a number of reasons. Try reading EF, it can be difficult to see the difference between the E and the F. Same goes with OQ, or even CO. We did a lot of this kind of stuff in my Cartography classes. I can see though why limited use of Caps on blueprints etc would be helpful, but all caps is just to much of a pain to read. ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236/20 "2002-12-24T15:21:04Z")
As a trivial side note, I’ve heard that when telegraphs were fairly new and standards were being established for the telegraph industry, a study was done on whether they should use upper or lower case letters. lower case letters were found to be more readable, but the president of a large telegraph company insisted that they use upper case letters instead. His reason: it would not be possible to render the name of God with the proper respect. So upper case letters became the standard. Sorry, I couldn’t find a cite for that story. As far as I know, it could be pure fiction. Can anyone confirm or deny? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-all-caps-have-bothered-you-if-it-wasnt-associated-with-shouting/144236.md?page=2)