When reading text, we have found ways to interpret it in our ways. For example, in Thinking With Type by Ellen Lupton, she states “A word set in ALL CAPS within running text can look big and bulky, and A LONG PASSAGE SET ENTIRELY IN CAPITALS CAN LOOK UTTERLY INSANE.” Because, as readers, we interpret text that is in all capitals is considered yelling or shouting.
So who decided this was how we conveyed shouting at each other via text? By using different texts like capitals, italics, etc., we have the opportunity to convey texts in a completely different way. It’s intriguing to think that text can be altered in such a way that changes our perception of its meaning.
I thought this was a really clever post. Sometimes I wonder why All Caps makes you think the other person is shouting via text, but it really does make you think that. It seems as though our generation understands this much better, however, than our parents' generation. My dad always texts and types with the Caps Lock on, and he does this so he "can read it better". He doesn't understand the implications of tone that come from using capital letters. It is really awesome though that by changing the form of the letters (not even changing the letters themselves) actual yields a different meaning.
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