Why do People use capital Letters in ways that are Creative?

littermate

If you have insight through direct Experience, meaning you do this Thing, Enlighten me about the Source of it.
Do you know What I mean?
I don't think People who do this find every word they capitalize sacred, or do they?
Enlighten me Please.
I'm really curious.

UCpaaHVg6u0

In German, it is normal to capitalize Nouns.

Sashamcgee

I think it's an autocorrect thing. Or maybe for emphasis, but typically tHaT lOoKs MoRe liKE THis. The specific trend I'm referencing at least.

They're not familiar with English composition, or they're dumb.

Gallowglass

I'm a techie. thisFormattingIsCalledCamelNotation. In programming, often, you want to use a string of text that has no spaces. I find this sometimes bleeds-over into my life because I can use it with people, in the know, as an inside joke.

Sometimes I might compare That person, to THIS person, to make subjects jump out, and to be able to vary the tone of my meaning, through text, when normally it would be lost.

I have other self-examples. but that gets the point across.

Some people use Capitalization For Emphasis.

I used to work with a woman who literally learned to read from video games; she capitalized Important things and often (as in German) proper nouns. Not sure what games she grew up with, but evidently that was how they did it.

The Founding Fathers of the USA also apparently had this problem. Of course, that was then and this is now.

Language changes.

TheFunCartel

Some use it merely because it is a cApiTAl idEa

littermate

@DarkLordChungus chuckle-snort. This can tend to be where I go with it also. I wanted to apply some curiosity to the issue because it seems like there's some kind of perspective and application of that perspective going on. Those who do what I'm talking about are generally not articulate, nor do they seem particularly creative, except in the capitalization zone. They do not seem like German-as-first-language sorts. nor like software geeks with whom I'm familiar. But why Those Words pray tell?

littermate

@DarrenWalker Fascinating.

@littermate

Perhaps such people want to be seen as unique in some capacity? Instead of putting effort into what they say, they decide to put effort into how it's presented—which is far easier.

littermate

Oh interesting. Perhaps so.

CuddleDuncan

Looking at the Constitution, it strikes me that the capitalised words tend to be ones which, in a modern legal document, would be explicitly defined elsewhere in the document. This is a standard use of initial capitals, in law and elsewhere.

The 'creative' types are sometimes goverened by a heady mixture of ignorance and insecurity. They know that capitals are required, but they don't really understand where. As a consequence, they spread them around randomly, in the hope that something will be correct. Sometimes there is imperfect adherance to a misunderstood or even imaginery rule.

Then of course there are the people with undiagnosed dyslexia or other conditions. And the people who never really understood the difference between lower case and capitals anyway: those poor souls vaguely understand that letters come in multiple forms, but not why.

Always remember that some children, if caught doing their homework by their parents, will be punched repeatedly in the head because 'school is a waste of time'. This is too difficult and too shameful to report, and so they are punished again the next day for not doing their homework. In the middle of all that, which words require capitals is a detail that sometimes gets lost.

urfavebabybrat

Hahah, I’m surprised no one has mentioned it but the funny tAlKInG lIKe tHiS capitalizations are meant to express sarcasm or mocking. It’s the Spongebob sarcastic font.

IMO it's the same thing as people who don't use punctuation or use it in bizarre ways, putting commas and periods where they clearly don't belong. Or when people use quotation marks in ways that make no sense. There's actually a whole subgenre of Internet humor devoted to misused quotation marks on signs.

I don't consider myself a grammar nazi at all, but there's a level at which it just gets really distracting and hard to read... and that's the point where I probably just stop reading.

Honestly, I think a lot of people never really got the hang of effective written communication, and after they leave school they lose touch even more.

If they never read books and all of their written communication is extremely informal texts with their friends it gets worse yet.

Gallowglass

• Most Book Titles, capitalize every word.
• If the Title is in the, "Form of a Complete Sentence", you don't capitalize the little words.
• If you are writing a sentence and you want to EMPHASIZE certain words, you can make them ALL CAPS. (Some consider this shouting, if in a text message or email.)
• If you are doing technical writing, you may adopt a certain style based on a custom, standard, or preference.
• Like style, some people wear their hat on their ass. It is self expression. Too much randomness makes it difficult to read, and frustrates me.

I sometimes assume that it's a reflection on how much critical thinking a person is able to do. It devalues the meaning and message. Over-used, I find it frustrating, lazy, or childish. Sometime it is used to convey wickedly funny thoughts, in which case I approve.

littermate

The mystery continues.

ValentineCloud

I do it because it is Fun and gives me the Seratonins. Also because I am the Gay

littermate

Best answer yet.

A good article on the trend: https://mashable.com/article/capitalizing-first-letter-words-trend/

Emily Dickinson was well know for selective capitalization. . . Her poetry stands out for its unconventional use of capitalization and punctuation. Her poems contain capitalized words which are not normally capitalized.

littermate

Awesome! Thanks.

Sideon

I'm more minded towards the world of e e cummings:

"life's not a paragraph And death i think is no parenthesis"

CuddleDuncan

Just to be clear, capitals are important. Not because of blind adherance to a rule, but because they convey meaning.

Helping your Uncle Jack off a horse is NOT the same thing as helping your uncle jack off a horse.

@CuddleDuncan
I have an Uncle named Jack. I have done neither of those.
Point well made.

Gallowglass

Marriage. Not so much a word, as it is a sentence.