Capital Idea   2004-08-21

I've decided it's time I started using the shift key and proper punctuation in my online writing and correspondence.

Why this change of heart after nearly ten sputtering, sporatic years of small-case, punctuation optional electronic interaction? Well, I read the   following article   by Jennifer Garrett on the Blogger site the other day and, as with the asian wave, I had a small epiphany.

Truth be told I thought my lack of capitalization and punctuation put me on the vanguard of formal literary deconstruction. In reality I was just being lazy. Should the tenets of written English fall victim to the lethal ease of push-button publishing? I don't think so. If the medium is the message, I've been broadcasting L-A-Z-Y at full volume. A personal revolution is underway.

As Garrett pointedly tells all non-capitalizers and punctuation avoiders:

"You are not e.e. cummings; you are not being "artistic." You're just too lazy to hit the shift key. If you can't be bothered with the extra keystroke, I can't be bothered to read your site."

Heavy stuff. I think she's onto something.

The following is abstracted from Garrett's article.

Though Blogger gives everything else away for free, sadly the service does not come with a cranky grammar bitch with blue pencil in hand. Luckily for you, however, it does come with a spell-check and an edit button. These tools are your friends. Use them.

A blogger must be a writer and an editor if he wants to attract and keep readers. A well-written blog indicates respect both for the medium and for the reader. Proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar are not merely the tools by which anal-retentive freaks like me get their kicks; they give words meaning, clarity, and, if you're lucky, beauty. Proper punctuation can mean the difference between comments full of flame wars and comments rife with meaningful discourse.

Be kind to your reader. Capitalization and punctuation are the easiest ways to indicate exactly what you're trying to say. It's time for a little tough love, people: Anyone who types in all lowercase needs to be taken out back and beaten. You are not e.e. cummings; you are not being "artistic." You're just too lazy to hit the shift key. If you can't be bothered with the extra keystroke, I can't be bothered to read your site. Don't turn off readers before they even get to your words. (A refusal to capitalize is just one grammar horror that can be spotted at first glance. I can also spot an overuse of the ellipsis at 50 paces. There are two reasons to use an ellipsis (and neither one is because you don't want to write a transition): Use an ellipsis to indicate words omitted from a direct quote or to trail off intriguingly. If neither of these are your intention, try a period. Dot. Full stop. Terminal punctuation can be your friend.)

Both the agony and the ecstasy of blogging is the ability to publish your words so easily; one might even say at the push of a button. This ease-of-use, however, seems to be accompanied by lack-of-use; our internal editors appear to be on eternal vacation when it comes to the internet. "It's just an e-mail" or "It's just a blog" are no excuses for rushed thinking (or even rushed typing). The world can wait a few more minutes. Sit back for a second. Compose your thoughts. Then release to the world your 800-word treatise.

Will capitalization and punctuation change the timbre of my journal entries?

Is it my imagination or can I already feel some of the joie de vivre slipping away?

I'm not sure, only time will tell.

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