I've recently discovered there's a name for it. Unfortunately, there's no cure. It's the Argumentum ad CAPSLOCK. You've all seen this, whenever a religious fundamentalist or conspiracy theorist or general crank appears on a forum or in a comments list, they tend to EMPHASISE certain IMPORTANT words and PHRASES, in order to get their POINT across. As soon as you see it in a person's post, it's a sure-fire indication that they're a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Heck, even the few examples above are making my blog look unstable!
If you want a slew of examples of these phenomena - though why you would want to? - you should check out this website: www.crank.net . Be warned, there are a lot of disturbed people out there, and they've got computers.
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12 comments:
Dammit! You have found me out. Could my penchant for ardent capitalization be related to my FAILURE to thesaurize properly?
Who knows?
It's truly like an addiction. Now I feel bad, have to go back to today's post and re-edit it.
Wow! You now hold the record for the quickest response to one of my posts ie under 5 minutes!
Capslocked and italicised words have their place in a piece of writing. They become more effective the less they're used. I use boldface myself for emphasis. I've been over and had a look at your blog. I like it. I've added it to my favourites list.
Oops! You have identified one of my biggest "urges"--the urge to "capitalize" when I'm feeling "emphatic". (Notice I also get the urge to use quotation marks quite a bit, too.) Sometimes I give in to the capitalization urge, as can be found on some of my blog entries---and it's definitely an indicator of my mood, heh. (Does this mean I'm "unstable"?)
Eeek! I think I've unleashed a tidal-storm of protest regarding Capslocking. I herewith retract what I said about the first sign of capslocking being a sure-fire indication of instability. When used in moderation, it can be an effective indicator of emotion. But when used to excess, or inappropriately, it moves the prose towards the stereotypically cranky. Boldface and italics would have the same problem.
Obviously, discerning readers of this blog are persons of taste and refinement and could never be described as unstable.
By the way Bohemian Road Nurse, I've had difficulty trying to leave a comment on your blog. The comment thingy won't recognise my Blogger or Google passwords. I was wondering if it's legal to advertise that 'head-on' wax roll-on as a painkiller, and wouldn't a candle be just as effective and cheaper.
Hi Deacon! How about overuse of exclamation points? Just kidding! Thank-you for taking the time to check out my blog and I've published your comments; I moderate in order to delete the inevitable spam. Not sure if 'head-on' wax roll-on is an effective painkiller, but candle wax is quite effective on naughty men. Have a great day!
Hi Chloe, 'Head-on' is not an effective painkiller, though it's marketed as one. You may have seen the infomercials? If you click on bohemian road nurse's link above and read down her posts, you'll see a picture of someone using it, by placing the tip on their forehead. And people fork out money for this? What's wrong with a couple of paracetamol?
I confess I rarely watch commercials anymore now that I program everything I want to watch ahead of time- so I have glimpsed the commercial in fast forward and assumed it was a hair-regrowth product. I avoid medicines and whacko supplements of any kind unless prescribed by a MD, and avoid doctors as much as possible in general. No disrespect intended to medical professionals, just think the overload of patients and push to cut costs results in a substandard system.
The essay regarding nerds and school is thought-provoking, I had forgotten (or blocked out) the twin pillars of agony and boredom that made up my education thru junior and senior high. Years later, when I finally went to college, I loved it so much graduation day was a bummer. Even now when I drive past my former high school I am giddy with joy that I don't have to go back, even skipped my reunion to avoid the people and possible regression to that system.
My old school moved to a new building nearly twenty years ago. The old building was taken over by Queen Margaret College, who run a degree course in - guess what? - nursing! So on the ward, we get QMC students who are being taught where I once got taught.
Hello again--I'm not sure why the Beta blogger is acting up and won't let you comment. The whole "template thing" gives me anxiety. It took me years to learn how to build web pages and now I have to learn how to deal with blog templates...arrgh. (P.S.: The Head-On thing drives me crazy--they even sell that stuff in Walmart, in two sizes!)
Two sizes! The mind boggles! Is the large size for fat-heads?
Though I too have been known to CAPSLOCK on occasion (because I'm feeling too lazy to bold or italicize), in your defense let me add FSTDT to your list of sites supporting the "Whack Jobs Use CAPSLOCK A Lot Theory".
Funny, funny stuff there.
Ah those fundies. When you've got into a rut of thinking that there's no problem in the world that can't be solved by people just getting together and talking rationally about the subject, just click on the above link and remind yourself just how batshit crazy your fellow humans can be.
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