Comment by kraken_cult
13 hours ago
off topic but I've noticed this CAPITALIZATION more and more in online discourse. I don't like it, but if you're using it can you maybe explain where it comes from?
It definitely seems like a zoomer thing.
13 hours ago
off topic but I've noticed this CAPITALIZATION more and more in online discourse. I don't like it, but if you're using it can you maybe explain where it comes from?
It definitely seems like a zoomer thing.
Every time I see it I think of those YouTube videos people used to make: Ben Shapiro OWNS feminist with FACTS and LOGIC. Definitely sets the bozo bit.
It is for this reason that I like people doing it. I refer to it as setting "the evil bit". Go ahead and let me know that you only spout garbage before I even click the link.
One could argue that it's just what's old becoming new again. In older English capitalization of words was often used to add emphasis or imply meaning beyond what could be conveyed in a sentence by itself. For instance from the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
I don't actually know why this faded and got gradually replaced by our quite specific rules. It seems like a nice way for an author to be able to express much more meaning in the exact same number of characters.
Those were leading capital letters words. This is ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, which is different. As others pointed out, it’s used extensively in the click bait arena.
> It seems like a nice way for an author to be able to express much more meaning in the exact same number of characters.
Quite the opposite: It damages beyond repair the ability to pick out proper names at speed.
English has a horrid habit of re-using common nouns as names. The miller John becomes John miller, not John Miller.
Worse, the proliferation of brand names means that readers depend on capitalization to know if they are talking about, e.g., google, a common generic term for searching, or Google, the Alphabet (not alphabet!) subsidiary.
So, under the new regime, authors get to be more precious at the expense of their audience's time and concentration.
That's a Nope from Me, Dawg.
In "old-school" Internet "netiquette" it used to be considered digital SHOUTING. Nowadays it still is in some circles, but it may just be considered emphasis by some of the younger crowd?
I think it's just shouting. The 'netiquette' nerds [1] noticed that all-caps comes across as shouting. For once they got something right.
[1] bless their hearts
It's a type of emphasis.
I am no Zoomer and use it, so the casual age discrimination is seemingly poor pattern recognition.
Further, I used to run a hefty BNET(SCBW) swarm (to give you a better reference for how much text from online users I have come across) and it's use was common then as well.
The best solution to text bothering you is to tell yourself that giving silly things such power is, also, a silly thing.
The preceding 'also' could be all-capped.
I don't get it though. If you want to create emphasis why not use asterisks?
Ha! HN makes it italic. I forgot that.
You can use two to make keep asterisks like *this*
I see, *I get it now*.
In my opinion it's more elegant than emphasizing with capital letters.
I have been seeing this online since the 00s. No one likes it but I don't think there is a generational divide. Sometimes people just want to shout words at your face.
It’s against the guidelines because it’s been used for emphasis (with varying degrees of classiness) since before the beginning of the Internet.
El presidente does this a lot. Maybe it’s leaking out.
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