# Your favorite way of emphasising on the Boards **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 29, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244 "2002-04-29T07:33:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/1 "2002-04-29T07:33:34Z")
Say you want to put emphasis on a certain word in an SDMB post. Some might frame the word with _asterisks_, others might use _italics_ or **bolding** , others underline or use _this_ method whose name is unknown to me. I personally prefer \*, because it’s comfortable to type. What’s your favorite? ---
**Author:** ![LolaBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/2 "2002-04-29T07:39:01Z")
Depending how lazy I am, I may actually try to use **bold** or _italics_. If I’m super lazy I just type the word IN CAPS. ---
**Author:** ![blur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dbc845/32.png) [@blur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blur)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/3 "2002-04-29T08:20:53Z")
I’m like Lola. I try to us **bold** or _italics_\* but more often than not I screw up the coding, especially on long posts, so I tend to just capitalize. coding + blur = mess. ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/4 "2002-04-29T10:20:18Z")
Italics make it _sound_ like the way I emphasise in speech. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/5 "2002-04-29T12:26:02Z")
I cut my posting teeth on BBSes back in the 80s. We didn’t have none of this fancy schmancy bolding, italicizing, or underlining, we just had the ASCII characters that God intended. So when it came time for emphasizing, alls we could do was all caps, asterisks, or the pre- and post-underlines. Me, I like ALL CAPS. I had a friend back in those days who could post huge diatribes and rants using no empasizing tools but caps and he was amazing - you could hear him delivering these missives in his voice. ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/6 "2002-04-29T14:34:52Z")
I. Absolutely. **Hate**. When. People. Do. This. For. Emphasis. It’s. So. Hackneyed. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/7 "2002-04-29T15:07:00Z")
For me, bold is the **name of another poster** and italics is for _the title of a book, play, film, etc._ There are posters who emphasize with italics, and I get a very specific mental image of how they speak. However, I personally don’t speak in italics, I speak in ALL CAPS. I know some people think this is shouting, and I would never write an entire post in all caps. But I do think it is the method that best approximates the way I speak/think – I emphasize certain words by coming down hard on them, as in “Could you BELIEVE that my boss had the nerve to ask me to work on Saturday, and not just ANY Saturday, but the Saturday that also happens to be my BIRTHDAY, fer cryin out loud?” ---
**Author:** ![fish\_in\_the\_sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ba0ec/32.png) [@fish\_in\_the\_sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fish_in_the_sky)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/8 "2002-04-29T16:09:02Z")
I actually have a lot of trouble with this. Like **delphica** , bold is for people’s names and italicize is for book titles or foriegn words. Underline makes me think titles, too. CAPS make me think of abbreviations. I don’t like _astericks_ because I think they’re too cutesy, and even though I use _underscores_ in plain text e-mails, I think it looks kind of messy on message boards. So I’m stuck with nothing. I generally try to phrase things clearly enough that I don’t need additional empahsis. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/9 "2002-04-29T16:16:45Z")
[ul]… \*\*method \*\* … 😃 [sup]I use[/sup] [/ul] ---
**Author:** ![c\_carol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@c\_carol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_carol)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/10 "2002-04-29T22:18:53Z")
I like _this_ method, especially for single words. It seems much faster and easier and less error-prone than remembering how to do the coding for proper underline or _italics_. ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/11 "2002-04-29T22:53:53Z")
\*\*\*OR YOU COULD MAKE EVRYONE HATE YOU BY DOING THIS \*\* \* ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/12 "2002-04-29T22:55:33Z")
You could also make yourself look really stupid by doing that and not even spelling correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Nonny\_Mouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5e9695/32.png) [@Nonny\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonny_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/13 "2002-04-29T23:02:51Z")
Italics, because then the emphasis remains intact if someone quotes me. I don’t get the reasoning behind bolding someone’s name. It’s not a natural usage in any other form of writing. Nonny ---
**Author:** ![GopherGod72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@GopherGod72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GopherGod72)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/14 "2002-04-29T23:52:15Z")
:rolleyes::rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/15 "2002-04-30T00:27:53Z")
Depending on my mood and what sort of coding I’m using for other reasons in the post, I may use **bold** , _italic_ or ALL CAPS. In emails, I use _underscores_, ALL CAPS or _BOTH_ together. I don’t use asterisks, however, as those are reserved for signifying actions. I knew someone who used =EQUAL SIGNS AND CAPS= for emphasis in emails once. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/16 "2002-04-30T12:38:29Z")
_ **POKEY I LOVE EMPHASIZING TEXT!!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/17 "2002-04-30T15:44:27Z")
I tend to use CAPS, mainly because I’m too lazy to type the coding, although I do make efforts to bold user names - it’s just convention on the baords, not so much an issue of how I speak, or write normally. I tend to use this Quick Reply box a LOT more often than clicking to reply, so I don’t have all the handy buttons to help me do everything. I haven’t changed my typing style for this board because of those buttons (before the QR box), so I just continue with remembering the basic codes for when I really need them, and nvermind the rest 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/18 "2002-04-30T16:18:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nonny Mouse \* > I don’t get the reasoning behind bolding someone’s name. It’s not a natural usage in any other form of writing. I do it to make it easier for people to see that they have been addressed, replied to, or in some way mentioned. As for emphasis, ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/19 "2002-04-30T16:21:03Z")
. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244/20 "2002-04-30T16:23:18Z")
You can’t beat a pregnant pause. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-way-of-emphasising-on-the-boards/106244.md?page=2)