ALL-CAPS
PROGRAM: “IN A WORD”
EPISODE: ALL-CAPS
[5 TO 10 SEC OF MUSIC]
[FADE MUSIC]
I’m Candace Hastings with “In a Word,” your weekly communication tip.
In some offices, people shout at each other all day long. “I need your conference information IMMEDIATELY.”
“We NEED to talk ASAP.”
Yet this sort of yelling is pretty quiet. In fact, it’s not spoken; it’s spelled out in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS in dozens of daily emails.
Capital letters have long been used in the ink and paper world to get readers’ attention, to abbreviate long phrases, and as headings. For example, a headline from The Bryan Daily Eagle and Pilot, on December 1st, 1911, alerted its readers: “ANOTHER FIRE AT A. & M. COLLEGE.” It made sense to write that headline in all caps. Readers probably followed this news with great interest; it was the second fire to destroy a dining hall in less than a month.
In emails and text messages, however, words written in all capital letters aren’t just read with added emphasis; they’re read as if someone is shouting. If there’s a fire, by all means, turn on your CAPS-LOCK. But if the message is routine, maybe the added emphasis isn’t necessary.
In an email, if I tell someone they need to come and see me A-S-A-P (As Soon As Possible), and I capitalize the acronym ASAP—even though that acronym would normally be capitalized—readers may think I have some particularly bad news to tell them, or that I’m angry. If that’s not the case, it could also make things unnecessarily antagonistic.
Today’s digital technologies allow us to communicate on the go, but that means distractions that can distort our meanings. But such distortions aren’t just a problem in the digital realm. Check your car warranty, your lease, or your mortgage. By law, certain aspects of written contracts must be “conspicuous"—a term with a legal definition. The idea is to prevent people from hiding things in the fine print.
Some lawyers try to meet this requirement by printing whole sections of the document in ALL-CAPS. But legal experts increasingly find this ALL-CAPS practice problematic since paragraphs written in ALL-CAPS are harder to read than those in both upper and lower cases. On top of that, people accustomed to email and texting look at those all caps documents and wonder “Why is my warranty yelling at me?”
Turns out one person’s “conspicuous” is another person’s “confrontational.” So use that caps lock with care.
This has been "In a Word," a program made possible by the Texas A&M University Writing Center and a production of KAMU FM on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station. For more writing and speaking tips, visit our website at writingcenter.tamu.edu. I’m Candace Hastings, helping you make every word count.
[5 TO 10 SEC OF MUSIC]
EPISODE: ALL-CAPS
[5 TO 10 SEC OF MUSIC]
[FADE MUSIC]
I’m Candace Hastings with “In a Word,” your weekly communication tip.
In some offices, people shout at each other all day long. “I need your conference information IMMEDIATELY.”
“We NEED to talk ASAP.”
Yet this sort of yelling is pretty quiet. In fact, it’s not spoken; it’s spelled out in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS in dozens of daily emails.
Capital letters have long been used in the ink and paper world to get readers’ attention, to abbreviate long phrases, and as headings. For example, a headline from The Bryan Daily Eagle and Pilot, on December 1st, 1911, alerted its readers: “ANOTHER FIRE AT A. & M. COLLEGE.” It made sense to write that headline in all caps. Readers probably followed this news with great interest; it was the second fire to destroy a dining hall in less than a month.
In emails and text messages, however, words written in all capital letters aren’t just read with added emphasis; they’re read as if someone is shouting. If there’s a fire, by all means, turn on your CAPS-LOCK. But if the message is routine, maybe the added emphasis isn’t necessary.
In an email, if I tell someone they need to come and see me A-S-A-P (As Soon As Possible), and I capitalize the acronym ASAP—even though that acronym would normally be capitalized—readers may think I have some particularly bad news to tell them, or that I’m angry. If that’s not the case, it could also make things unnecessarily antagonistic.
Today’s digital technologies allow us to communicate on the go, but that means distractions that can distort our meanings. But such distortions aren’t just a problem in the digital realm. Check your car warranty, your lease, or your mortgage. By law, certain aspects of written contracts must be “conspicuous"—a term with a legal definition. The idea is to prevent people from hiding things in the fine print.
Some lawyers try to meet this requirement by printing whole sections of the document in ALL-CAPS. But legal experts increasingly find this ALL-CAPS practice problematic since paragraphs written in ALL-CAPS are harder to read than those in both upper and lower cases. On top of that, people accustomed to email and texting look at those all caps documents and wonder “Why is my warranty yelling at me?”
Turns out one person’s “conspicuous” is another person’s “confrontational.” So use that caps lock with care.
This has been "In a Word," a program made possible by the Texas A&M University Writing Center and a production of KAMU FM on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station. For more writing and speaking tips, visit our website at writingcenter.tamu.edu. I’m Candace Hastings, helping you make every word count.
[5 TO 10 SEC OF MUSIC]