GREAT NEWS, LOVERS OF SANITY. TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY.
Back in 2000, software developer Derek Arnold proclaimed October 22 to be International Caps Lock Day. The idea is that today you type with your caps lock toggle firmly in the ON position. Why? Well according to Arnold:
International Caps Lock Day is in fact a testament to the small mindedness of certain Western individuals: the majority of the world’s population writes in scripts which have no concept of letter casing. Therefore, it is advised to laugh at anyone who invokes this day as an excuse to dismiss local typographical conventions: they are simply making an ass out of themselves.
SO THAT MAKES IT OKAY AND EVEN COOL TO TYPE IN CAPS ALL DAY.
I don’t need to tell you that typing with caps locks turned on is considered bad “netiquette” (what a stupid word). Most people don’t do it accidentally anymore, and if someone is typing in CAPS LOCK it is usually because they are being silly, which happens a lot on the Internet. Today, The Atlantic ran a THOUGHT PROVOKING piece about how capital letters are sometimes used in place of SOMETHING LIKE IRONY MARKS because, “It tells readers, ‘I’m up to something.’ But it also tells them, THE SOMETHING IS UP TO YOU.” But if you didn’t know that then you probably don’t GET the NET.
According to this “SELF PROCLAIMED OFFICAL HOME PAGE OF CAPS LOCK DAY” there are some additional ways you can celebrate on this great day.
CAPSLOCK ACTIVITEES
- CAPSLOCK LIGHTS
- CAPSLOCK TREE
- TEACH DOGS HOW TO MURDER
- PUSHA DA CAPSLOCK OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER!!!!!!!!!!!
Since 2009, CAPS LOCK DAY is also celebrated on June 28 to commemorate the death of the very shouty OxiClean pitch man Billy Mays. And in 2003 someone even tried to start a Caps Lock day on August 19 but that person was clearly wrong because we did not tell you it was Caps Lock Day on August 19.
HOLDING DOWN THE SHIFT KEY IS FOR SUCKERS.
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Michael Kolberg is The Sprawl Editor at Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter for jokes @mikeykolberg
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