I KNOW THIS THREAD HAS GONE ON A LONG TIME AND I MAY BEGIN TO SOUND TO PEOPLE LIKE A DEME

[Michael Quinion]

Ron Butters wrote:

> OF COURSE there exists a general rule that a lot of people believe
> in that holds that caps should be reserved only for shouting--even
> though almost nobody ever does it. But this strikes me as an absurd
> prescriptivist rule, given that it effectively prohibits the use of
> all-caps for whatever reason.

No, that's not people are saying. They are protesting that posters
shouldn't put the *whole* of a message in capital letters because to
do so makes it seem as though the poster is shouting (by implication,
to no good effect). To use the occasional block of a word or two in
caps to make a point is different: that's understood as emphasis.


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: <TheEditor at worldwidewords.org>
Web: <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>