4
"ThE dIsTiNcTiOn DoEsN't EvEn TrAnSlAtE tO vErBaL cOmMuNiCaTiOn"
I did immediately picture this guy so point taken.
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!
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.
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!!!
Would've taken you seriously had you FUCKING bothered to stick to one case.
this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2025
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Unpopular Opinion
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