Is the notion that "all caps" is rude really that important?

Question

Sir! What see I there! All caps! How dare you! You offend me with such writing. I challenge you to a duel! /removes glove and slaps across the face with an all caps *SLAP ACROSS THE CHEEK*.

Has our society really become *that lame*?

Answer 1

Yes, all CAPS is now copnsidered crude behavior. It didn't used to be. I have a small computer downstairs, a Sinclair ZX80 with a whopping 64K RAM running at a clock speed of 2mhz. You probably have never heard of it. Anyway, it is now a dedicated stove monitor for my airtight woodstove. It monitors and controls the dampers to control the burn to keep it even for heating my house in the dead of winter. I have a printer hooked to it, a teletype actually, a Model 35D to be specific and all it HAS is caps. It has an inventory tag which says it was once owned by The Atomic Energy Commission. However, since we now have the capability to use lower case, it is considered appropriate to do so

Answer 2

I'm an English teacher and I find that children write all caps in their stoies to show that a character is shouting. This would be marked as a mistake as a single exclamation mark is sufficient.

If you can't express yourself adequately in the English language then you need to learn more words, not just put the few you do know into capital letters. If your state of mind isn't clear by the words that you have used then you haven't communicated effectively.

On a separate although related issue: exclamation marks on restaurant menus. I feel that it's just unnecessary. If they need to use punctuation just to tell me that the food is good then it's probably not worth eating. I was hoping that the description and the food itself would mae my decision for me. Rather patronizing that restauranteurs believe people go for things like "Hold onto your taste buds!!" and other such malarky.

Answer 3

To some people it is,especially the "yahoo" people. I usually write in all caps because it is easier to read, I hand write in all caps so it is legible, my printing looks better that way. I have been told it's rude, and considered "yelling". I don't mean it that way. Yes, our society has become that "lame".

Answer 4

Well, to some people writing in all caps can be considered "yelling" But, really it is very annoying to read in all caps. If you are reading a paragraph in all caps, it seems that you are looking at a big block of text and it all seems to smush together.

Answer 5

It just seems to be interpreted as the chatting equivalent of yelling. Just like you wouldn't yell to your friend when having a casual conversation, please don't do it on the web.

Whether or not you limit your use of caps based on this, is entirely up to you. It just seems that most people see it as "yelling", and thus, only necessary in some scenarios.

Answer 6

Yes, It is very rude when it is in all caps. It is against on-line policy everywhere. It's only lame when you don't know the rules.

Answer 7

All caps come across as shouting, which is rude in normal circumstances, and so shouting via writing is rude as well.
Plus, it's annoying.

Answer 8

People view it as the printed equivalent of shouting. Shouting is appropriate at times but I can't think of an instance where it would be appropriate to shout at someone you are sending an e-mail to. Personally it would not offend me unless the words themselves were angry.

Answer 9

IMO, they're not rude, they're just really difficult and annoying to read.

Also, because we are used to caps being used for emphasis, it does feel a bit like you are being shouted at when you read them.

Answer 10

Yes, unfortunately I believe it has become that petty! Not all of us care about it though!