There are some pieces of etiquette that a lot of people don’t really know about. For example, when finishing the last of a bowl of soup, the proper thing to do is tip the bowl away from you and scrape out the remains with your spoon. There you go.
However, the one piece of etiquette that everyone seems to know, that everyone seems to flaunt, is the fact that writing in all caps is the equivalent of yelling.
IDIOTS
If one more person tells me that writing in all caps is the equivalent of yelling, I am actually going to yell. And this is an important distinction. You know why? BECAUSE THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS YELLING IN PRINT. Yelling is, by nature, auditory. It is an increase in volume. Writing does not have volume. If there is an equivalent, it would be to increase the font size, and therefore the 2-dimensional volume, of the letters themselves.
Saying that all-caps is yelling is like saying that writing in italics is the form necessary for describing something as delicious, or using Arial font is the same as expressing an increase in temperature. Confusing senses is something best left to poets who use small letters to tell you how sad they are, especially when the poem is written so that the lines form a frowny face.
So next time you think about putting on your smarty pants and informing someone how much you know about Emily Post, do what I do: Write the complaining email, but rather than sending it, print it, roll it into a tight tube, and shove it in your eye.
Rant: Emily Post 2.0
There are some pieces of etiquette that a lot of people don’t really know about. For example, when finishing the last of a bowl of soup, the proper thing to do is tip the bowl away from you and scrape out the remains with your spoon. There you go.
However, the one piece of etiquette that everyone seems to know, that everyone seems to flaunt, is the fact that writing in all caps is the equivalent of yelling.
IDIOTS
If one more person tells me that writing in all caps is the equivalent of yelling, I am actually going to yell. And this is an important distinction. You know why? BECAUSE THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS YELLING IN PRINT. Yelling is, by nature, auditory. It is an increase in volume. Writing does not have volume. If there is an equivalent, it would be to increase the font size, and therefore the 2-dimensional volume, of the letters themselves.
Saying that all-caps is yelling is like saying that writing in italics is the form necessary for describing something as delicious, or using Arial font is the same as expressing an increase in temperature. Confusing senses is something best left to poets who use small letters to tell you how sad they are, especially when the poem is written so that the lines form a frowny face.
So next time you think about putting on your smarty pants and informing someone how much you know about Emily Post, do what I do: Write the complaining email, but rather than sending it, print it, roll it into a tight tube, and shove it in your eye.