"ThE dIsTiNcTiOn DoEsN't EvEn TrAnSlAtE tO vErBaL cOmMuNiCaTiOn"
this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2025
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Unpopular Opinion
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I did immediately picture this guy so point taken.
COME ON OVER AND CRANK YER HOG AT THE PACK YOU WON'T EVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT SILLY THINGS LIKE LETTER CASES OR PUNCTUATION EVER AGAIN AROOOO!!!1
UMM, I DONT KNOW WHAT THAT IS YET BUT I HAVE LIKED AND SUBSCRIBED BECAUSE YOU YELLED AT ME.
NOT YELLIN' JUST GOTTA SPEAK UP OVER THE SOUND OF ALL THIS HOG CRANKIN' MF'ER HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT’S BEING DISCUSSED, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO JOIN THIS SEEMINGLY LIVELY CONVERSATION. THE IDEA OF HOG CRANKIN’ INTRIGUES ME!!!!
AS WELL IT SHOULD MF'ER YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY SOFT SHITS ARE A BLESSING SO CRANK THAT HOG AND THANK THAT LOG!!!
Capital letters give shape to lines of text on a page that make it easier for the eye to skim. Sure, they don't add any additional information that the period does not already have (and proper names are mostly vanity), but try reading page after page of all lower-case. It will take longer and comprehension will be lower. This is the same reason why some letters extend above and below the line - makes decoding words easier by giving them shape.
You can try it out yourself by saving this bookmarklet and using it to downcase a page! (Create new browser bookmark and paste "javascript:..." as the URL)
javascript:for (e of document.querySelectorAll('*')){for (c of e.childNodes){if (c.nodeType === Node.TEXT_NODE) c.textContent = c.textContent.toLowerCase()}}; void(0)
Come to think of it, the ease-of-read effect does look more pronounced on a full page of text rather than someplace where every post is a single sentence.
I appreciate the perspective, and I fully realize this hill I am dying on is not going to win hearts and minds. But you have to admit these problems have been solved in other ways without the extravagance of two mashed up writing systems. Even some forms of English like Morse code and ASL don’t bother with it (or can’t effectively bother with it) and it is fine. I think you are correct when you say vanity is the reason the convention now clings along.
Bonus thought: Punctuation at the beginning of a sentence like in Spanish should be codified across the globe.
asdf
I realize I am nowhere near influential enough. I am comfortable dying right here and now among all you lovely people.
asdf
By current conventions, one of those will be interpreted as aggressive and the other submissive, or unprofessional or something (at least within many common contexts).
I am that judgy too. For example, I just had an email with someone I work for this week and she used the word breech (which means poo) instead of breach (as in a contractual breach). And I took the rest of the day off to giggle.
asdf
ARGHGHAAGHAAHRRRGHAAHGH
No, one will be seen as aggressive and or uneducated the other as lazy and or uneducated.
one of those will be interpreted as aggressive and the other submissive
No choice then. Odd letters of the alphabet gets capitalized, even letters get downcased. That way you need to learn only one glyph for each still, but nobody will interpret you as BDSM.
I also feel compelled to mention secure passwords conventionally involve upper and lower cases, but still, this problem can be resolved in other ways. A lot of phones use drawing lines on a grid as authentication. Make your password a combination of Korean and Hindi characters. Make your password a string of emojis.
Edit: and yes, I am more in favour of emojis being incorporated into written language than hoity-toity when you call me “the queen”, you had better call me “the Queen” nonsense. Fuck outta here with that bourgeois gatekeeping.
Lol, oh the irony of your hypocrisy is laughable
Would've taken you seriously had you FUCKING bothered to stick to one case.
It's a "joke"(aka. troll) post, as evidenced by their replies.
I'm not serious either.
It's very convenient when reading German, as you instantly know which words are nouns.
Perfectly fine until you need to talk about certain proper nouns that might be confused with regular words. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitonym
Allow me to make my unpopular opinion all the more unpopular. English should instead have diacritics for such cases. Like, I know, it does, sort of (naïve, façade, etc.) but nobody uses them and they aren’t common enough for all the wildly exotic pronunciations of things. Use them! Add more!
In all fairness, you’re able to distinguish the difference in speech without capitalization using context clues. There are certainly situations where you might have to ask for clarification; while reading you just have to figure out context clues like someone figuring out the meaning of a new word.
e. e. cummings would agree.
Then how would we know whether Big Balls is the child somehow given authority over our public institutions, or big balls is a wellness initiative offering yoga balls
You do understand that written English is a descriptive thing, right?
That it's a result of trying to capture verbal communication in written/visual form?
Guess we should get rid of spaces too, since that doesn't reflect actual speech?
Put down the crack pipe, and step away from the computer.
Or (as others have said), "be the change you want to see"/"put your money where your mouth is".