1 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 1: Hello, or should I say hello? Or should I say hello? 2 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: You could hear the regular letters, the capital letters, and 3 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: possibly the italics. My name is Ben, my name is 4 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: Nolan Ben. Why are you shouting at me? Oh? I'm 5 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: shouting at our fellow friends and neighbors and listeners. And 6 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:47,839 Speaker 1: we prepped our super producer Casey Pegrum because we wanted 7 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: him to know that someone was going to raise their voice. 8 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 1: I do have to say, Ben, that was the most 9 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: low grade shout that I've ever heard. That was a 10 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: very gentle morning shout, and I appreciate that because it is, 11 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,280 Speaker 1: after all, nine am as we record this episode. Yeah, 12 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 1: hopefully we could get the point across though. Null. Have 13 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: you ever been in a moment, my old friend, where 14 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 1: you feel like you could picture what someone is saying 15 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 1: to you as though it were written down in text, 16 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 1: sort of in like a comic bookie automotopeia kind of way. Yeah, sure, yeah, 17 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 1: Like somebody, somebody says something with a certain amount of 18 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: emphasis or shade, and you can picture the italics when 19 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: they say, oh that one. See. It's interesting that you 20 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: flip it in that direction, because when you when you 21 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: look at it like that, Yes, I can get that tone, 22 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: and I can picture a text version of it, but 23 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,479 Speaker 1: when you flip the script and look at the text 24 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:43,600 Speaker 1: only version, it is sometimes a little tricky to get 25 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 1: that nuanced tone, which is why the fact that today 26 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: people communicate more in the written language than ever before 27 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: is an interesting conundrum because a lot is lost in translation, 28 00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: A lot of that tone and nuance flies right out 29 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: the window, and we get a lot of cranky people 30 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:03,680 Speaker 1: that think that you're mad at them when you send 31 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: them a text without any kind of signifiers of of levity, 32 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:10,959 Speaker 1: right right, And there's such a question that occurs because 33 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: our punctuation system is still evolving to properly convey tone. 34 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: You've heard of different attempts to, let's say, revise or 35 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 1: clarify punctuation, like the famous and terra bang, which is 36 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:26,800 Speaker 1: a question mark that is also an exclamation mark. I 37 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: love that word. It's uh. It's a word that can 38 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:32,720 Speaker 1: meet a lot of things, uh, and for our purposes, 39 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: it describes this uh new attempt at punctuation. And this 40 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: all exists because it's so very easy to misread text. 41 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 1: You'll also hear the statistic that is, sometimes you'll hear 42 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: sometimes you'll hear seventy or anywhere in that ballpark, just 43 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: as the majority of information conveyed when you're talking to 44 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 1: another person in person is actually not verbal. And that's 45 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,640 Speaker 1: the reason why if you look at a transcript of 46 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:07,800 Speaker 1: any conversation you have with any of your friends or 47 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: strangers on the street, you'll find that the conversation itself 48 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:14,920 Speaker 1: doesn't make much sense. There are a lot of ellipses, 49 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: there are a few coherent sentences. So when we are 50 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 1: limited to a single form of communication, a text only interface, 51 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 1: we have to think very carefully about what we say 52 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: and how we type it. Yeah, I was talking about 53 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: like little signifiers of levity. Like some people, uh depend 54 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: on the exclamation mark. Some people absolutely despise the exclamation mark. 55 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: I am one that uses it to show that I'm 56 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 1: excited about something. And there are some people that I 57 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: think get it and some people that it bugs the 58 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: hell out of, like my girlfriend. So I do not 59 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: text your exclamation marks anymore. But you know, you there's 60 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 1: there's emojis obviously you can use to show that you're 61 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: telling a joke or that you're, you know, being light 62 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: about something. But the all powerful shouty caps is what 63 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 1: today's episode is about, and it turns out that it's 64 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 1: got a history that goes way farther back than just 65 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: early Internet message boards and newsgroups. Right then, Yeah, absolutely no, 66 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: because we're all familiar with an Internet forum where you 67 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: see one person writing in all caps to emphasize something, 68 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: sometimes without an exclamation mark, just very very loud. And 69 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: we have all seen these comments online before. Now. I 70 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: don't want to say these people because for Pete's sake 71 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: or for Polk's sake, we have all been these people 72 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:46,480 Speaker 1: at some point when we are attempting to somehow encapsulate 73 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:53,359 Speaker 1: the entirety of in person communication in a single form 74 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,279 Speaker 1: of that communication. Man, you do not strike me as 75 00:04:56,360 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: a text shouter. You're far too eloquent for that. Say 76 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,280 Speaker 1: it ain't. So that's very kind, but I feel that 77 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:08,280 Speaker 1: it works really well with some comedic things. Uh, there 78 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: was only one time in my life I ever did 79 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:16,480 Speaker 1: it seriously, and I stand by. You gotta pick your battles. 80 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:21,600 Speaker 1: So what happened when we look at the state of communication? 81 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: What strange is that in any Latin based language, So 82 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:31,600 Speaker 1: anything that doesn't use idiograms, like like an Eastern language, right, 83 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:36,920 Speaker 1: in any Latin based language is known as shouting if 84 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 1: you use capital letters. We mentioned that this goes further 85 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:44,040 Speaker 1: back than you might imagine, but how far back does 86 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: it go? Yeah, it's really interesting because you would think 87 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,160 Speaker 1: that this is sort of a product of the Internet, 88 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: like we're talking about with those early message boards stuff. 89 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:55,279 Speaker 1: But as it turns out, according to a really cool 90 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:58,719 Speaker 1: piece written on math dot com, which I think started 91 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: out as like e commerce site and then ended up 92 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: being more of a message board, a guy by the 93 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: name of Dave Fleischman kind of delves into the evolution 94 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:11,719 Speaker 1: of using all caps as this indicator of shouting, and 95 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:15,599 Speaker 1: he actually found quite a few examples that date back 96 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:18,920 Speaker 1: hundreds of years. As it turns out, No, I propose 97 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: that as we travel to meet Mr Fleischman, we go 98 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,919 Speaker 1: the long route and stop by the Roman Empire first, 99 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: courtesy of our super producers time machine. He is really 100 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:39,479 Speaker 1: a jack of all trade that Casey Pegraman produces at 101 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 1: its engineers has a segment on the case with Casey 102 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:45,359 Speaker 1: and as it turns out, is a scientific genius and 103 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 1: inventor of time machines. We are some lucky dudes to 104 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: be associated with this giant. Do you notice that he 105 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 1: doesn't go with us on these jaunts through time and space. No, no, 106 00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: he has to be in the home base, keeping an 107 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,480 Speaker 1: eye on things and make and he pulls us out 108 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: like Star Trek style when things get hairy. I gotta 109 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,480 Speaker 1: have a man at the switch. Right here we are 110 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: Roman Empire. Observe all the amazing architecture, all the strange dress, 111 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: all the written text. I'm doing it. I'm observing it. 112 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 1: And as we're looking at this architecture, let's observe all 113 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: these numerous written inscriptions. Those are capital letters. Capital letters 114 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 1: evolved in this time during the Roman Empire because the 115 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:37,480 Speaker 1: stone cutters who made these monuments and made these buildings 116 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:43,120 Speaker 1: also made inscriptions using large, straight letters. They both were 117 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: easily legible, and they showed grandiose nature. Right, they added 118 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: some gravitas, that's right. Ben. In fact, in an article 119 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: from The New Republic by Alice Rob, rob interviews Professor 120 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: Paul Luna, who's the director of the Department Typography and 121 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: Graphic Communication at the University of Reading in the UK, 122 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 1: and Luna cites that the use of all caps was 123 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: meant to convey grandeur, pomposity, aesthetic seriousness, and has been 124 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:17,200 Speaker 1: used that way for thousands of years, as we're seeing 125 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: with our very eyes during this time travel tableau. Yes, 126 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: and there's not a chicken and egg situation here, which 127 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: I find so fascinating. It is proven that what we 128 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 1: interpret his upper case today did come before lower case. 129 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: Lower case became an adaptation of upper case, the same 130 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: way that Taken started out as a film and is 131 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 1: now a television adaptation. That's a really good way of 132 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 1: looking at it. It's true, um lower case letters were 133 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: developed more um as as a functional kind of thing 134 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 1: so that the books could be written by hand. In fact, 135 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: it was during shar Arle Maine's Carolinian Renaissance, which happened 136 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: from the late eighth century to the ninth century UM, 137 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 1: where a group of monks under the leadership of Alcon 138 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:14,040 Speaker 1: of York, who is an English scholar, um created this 139 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:18,320 Speaker 1: Carolinian minuscule script that would serve as the basis for 140 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:21,200 Speaker 1: what would become the modern upper case lower case alphabet 141 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: we know today, right that sweet Sweet mixtape, that crossover 142 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: that then diagram where you can write every letter at 143 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: least two ways. Fast forward to Italy. By the time 144 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: movable type reaches Italy, this writing had evolved to that 145 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: consistent model. And if we check back with our friend 146 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: Mr Fleishman, whom I would like to call Dave at 147 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: this point, are you okay with that? Okay with Dave? Right? 148 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: So it's one of the Dames. We know. He's one 149 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:52,440 Speaker 1: of the Daves. We know. There are several days we know, 150 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:55,959 Speaker 1: but he is one. Dave tells us that the first 151 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: citation he can find in the modern age for the 152 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 1: use of all caps for some sort of emphasis occurs 153 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: in a Washington, d c. Newspaper called The Evening Star, 154 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 1: in an article that published on February eighteen fifty six, 155 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:19,560 Speaker 1: and it's a there's a use of air quotes here. 156 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:24,240 Speaker 1: Dave calls it a quote hilarious dialect story about a 157 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 1: Dutchman who appears to be disease written, and we have 158 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: the sentence here for you. Idells you I've got the smallpox, 159 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:36,360 Speaker 1: don't you vettesh death smallpox? This time he shouted it 160 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 1: in capital letters, and the capital letters there that's my pox, 161 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: are are small pox? And I think that was a 162 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:48,199 Speaker 1: great reading. Noll. We we want to say we are 163 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:52,599 Speaker 1: not doing We're not doing any sort of Dutch stereotype 164 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:55,439 Speaker 1: or Dutch. Isn't a bad Dutch Dutch voice sign into 165 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:57,559 Speaker 1: a Dutchman. Yeah, I don't think it was a bad 166 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: Dutch voice. But I want people to know that you 167 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:06,080 Speaker 1: were reading it as it was written. Yes, indeed, yes, indeed, 168 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 1: as it turns out, I think, Um, he was talking 169 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:12,440 Speaker 1: about a small box and not small box. That's what 170 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:15,760 Speaker 1: it says in the article by Bye Fleishman. Um. We've 171 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: got a bunch of cool examples of this from Mr Fleishman. 172 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:23,239 Speaker 1: Another one is from eighteen seventy um from the Shamrock 173 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 1: in Ireland, which published a multi part fictional series called 174 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:32,880 Speaker 1: The Sore Grievance of Well Spanked John. He was well spanked, 175 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:36,520 Speaker 1: um and at one point the narrator, for whatever reason 176 00:11:36,559 --> 00:11:38,240 Speaker 1: I'd like to get my hands on, this is thrown 177 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 1: into a basket of duck eggs. Must have been a 178 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:44,840 Speaker 1: big basket, yes, and uh we have the line here. 179 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:47,920 Speaker 1: Uh is shortly after his auentes told she must pay 180 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 1: for this great basket of duck eggs twelve shillings and 181 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,640 Speaker 1: seven pence roared by ants and the biggest capital letters 182 00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:00,560 Speaker 1: twelve and seven pence. Good gracious me, that is a 183 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: hefty ticket price for a basket duck ages. But if 184 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:05,600 Speaker 1: it was big enough for a grown man to fall into, 185 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: that actually seems like a pretty good deal, yes, or 186 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:14,480 Speaker 1: uh for anyone you know, don't. Isn't that part of 187 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:17,560 Speaker 1: the American dream? A basket of duck eggs big enough 188 00:12:17,559 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: to fall in? Yeah? I like it, you know, sort 189 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:21,760 Speaker 1: of like a metaphor for the good life, like a 190 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:24,120 Speaker 1: bowl of cherries, a basket of duck eggs. There we go, 191 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,720 Speaker 1: and in the it's interesting because in both of these 192 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:33,360 Speaker 1: cases there are capital letters, but they apply to two 193 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: different things. They have two different connotations, which I would 194 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:42,880 Speaker 1: argue are readily apparent. In the Evening Star example, as 195 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 1: as Noel explained, their smallpox is humorous with its capitalization, right, 196 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: and we are laughing at the character's voice because it 197 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: meant small box, but they said small pox. And in 198 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:05,040 Speaker 1: a second example, the capitalization is on twelve and seven 199 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:11,880 Speaker 1: because the aunt is so aghast at this rapacious fee 200 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:14,559 Speaker 1: for the past dug um. Next, we have one that's 201 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:17,839 Speaker 1: really interesting because it comes from a manual for the 202 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: proper use of the language. Right. So this is from 203 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:23,320 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty and the book was called the Standard Speaker 204 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:27,079 Speaker 1: and elocutionist, and it says to readers um. It gives 205 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: some examples that the following selections are marked in capital letters, 206 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:34,520 Speaker 1: which is in capital letters in this quote UM as 207 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: the appropriate place for shouting emphasis. And it uses UH 208 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:42,839 Speaker 1: an example of a fantastic poem by Tennyson called the 209 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 1: Charge of the Light Brigade. There are other examples such 210 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:51,840 Speaker 1: as the enthusiasm of the shouting capital letters or warning 211 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:55,200 Speaker 1: signals which flash up in front of his eyes and 212 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:59,800 Speaker 1: shouting capital letters slow down. That's and all of these 213 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,280 Speaker 1: amples are from that piece Capital Crimes, Part one Shout Shout, 214 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:07,920 Speaker 1: Let it All Out, by our pal Dave Fleishman UM 215 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:11,080 Speaker 1: and you can check this out yourself on Matt dot com. 216 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: Definitely worth a read, and it's two parts to boot. 217 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:19,280 Speaker 1: And so we see these uses of language evolving in 218 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:23,600 Speaker 1: different places, almost in different periods of time. And the 219 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:27,400 Speaker 1: funny thing is that every single time they pop up 220 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 1: post Roman era, people know what it means. They know 221 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:32,600 Speaker 1: if it's a joke when they're reading it, they know 222 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:37,120 Speaker 1: if it's a very strong imperative sentence, you know, or 223 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: any number of traffic signs that I have been in 224 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:43,760 Speaker 1: trouble for violating and we will get back to traffic 225 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:46,360 Speaker 1: signs a little bit later. But you're absolutely correct. So 226 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: I think all of this talk we've been doing, we've 227 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: we've been doing in the Roman era, so we should, uh, 228 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: we should we should rewind back to the present. Yeah, 229 00:14:53,520 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: people are looking at us. Could call good call hey, Casey. 230 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 1: Thanks for pulling us back there. He we we got 231 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:06,760 Speaker 1: a just doing my job, not I know, but it 232 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 1: was getting harry and we didn't he knew, he already knew. 233 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 1: He had a cute up and ready to go. He 234 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: didn't even need us to use the safe word, which 235 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,800 Speaker 1: is fidelio. That's your safe word. I have a different one. 236 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:20,960 Speaker 1: He has a little confusing what's that? Because a little confusing? 237 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:23,680 Speaker 1: We should should should we just sync up on safe words. 238 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 1: I'm glad to use yours? Oh hey, you don't want 239 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:35,320 Speaker 1: to share it wouldn't be safe. We're in a president 240 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: where the president of the United States tweets using all caps, 241 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 1: which is interesting, yes, interesting, and sets a precedent. We 242 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: are watching linguistic history evolve as we record today. Right uh. 243 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: For Fleishman, there's a difference between shouting and signifying importance, 244 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 1: right uh, And Fleishman does are you He's on the 245 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:03,000 Speaker 1: same page with us that everyone alive today who uses 246 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,960 Speaker 1: no online service understands that when you use upper case 247 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 1: you're shouting. It is kind of intuitive and it makes 248 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:15,920 Speaker 1: sense visually actually, because Professor Paul luna Um in that 249 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:19,880 Speaker 1: New Republic piece is how he characterizes it. Quote all 250 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:24,160 Speaker 1: capitals provides visibility, maximum size within a given area. All 251 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 1: caps in an email looks like shouting, because when someone 252 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:30,120 Speaker 1: is shouting, you're aware of the shout and not the nuance. 253 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:33,400 Speaker 1: All caps fills the space, so there's an element of 254 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: feeling that the message is crowding out everything else. And 255 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: this kind of comes back to the idea that in general, 256 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 1: shouty caps is looked at his kind of poor form 257 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: and and kind of rude and almost a replacement for 258 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 1: substance at times. Yeah, agreed, and a little bit outdated 259 00:16:54,360 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 1: because it's associated with perhaps a lack of familiarity with 260 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:04,720 Speaker 1: online communication in this day and age. And found a 261 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:10,760 Speaker 1: very interesting thing here. The original typewriters were all capital 262 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:14,320 Speaker 1: we're all upper case letters, meaning that if you had 263 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:20,000 Speaker 1: an older, outdated keyboarder typewriter, something pre eight ten, nine four, 264 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,440 Speaker 1: So then the only letters you could send would look 265 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:26,280 Speaker 1: like very loud telegrams. And it's funny because my mom 266 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:29,439 Speaker 1: texts this way to this day. I'm not joking. She 267 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,399 Speaker 1: texts not all caps, but there's no punctuation. But that 268 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:35,359 Speaker 1: has become kind of a trope, right that if you 269 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:38,480 Speaker 1: are seen as using all caps, you're either being rude 270 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,360 Speaker 1: and loud and shouty, or like you said, you're using 271 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 1: outdated technology and therefore seen as being old school, or 272 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:49,439 Speaker 1: really just plain Hold and let's get back to our 273 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,399 Speaker 1: our tweeting president. A guy named Stephen Huxley who's the 274 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:56,880 Speaker 1: Chair of Communication and Media at Swinburne University of Technology 275 00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 1: in Australia. He says in an article from The Washington 276 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:05,000 Speaker 1: Post uh that it's pretty unusual. Highly unusual is how 277 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:07,600 Speaker 1: he phrases it, for a president to rely on all 278 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 1: caps um in these public messages. And that is because 279 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:16,919 Speaker 1: quote him, because it's perfect quote. If your message is good, 280 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 1: your message is clear, you don't need to add emphasis. 281 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:24,120 Speaker 1: It's irrelevant. Um. He says that using all caps signals 282 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:27,879 Speaker 1: that there has been a communication breakdown between the sender 283 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: and the receiver, So it implies that you're kind of 284 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,199 Speaker 1: struggling to communicate in a way, and he uses the 285 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:36,920 Speaker 1: example of someone who is trying to communicate with someone 286 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:41,600 Speaker 1: who speaks of foreign language and repeats themselves, not only 287 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 1: repeats themselves, but actually as though like the loudness of 288 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:49,400 Speaker 1: it will make it easier to understand, which we all 289 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:52,199 Speaker 1: know is absolutely not the case, and comes off as 290 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:54,800 Speaker 1: like WHOA, get out of my face with that, you know, 291 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:59,159 Speaker 1: And he says that it's poor form and it's rude, 292 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,440 Speaker 1: and it's received eaved as route as it should be 293 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:07,200 Speaker 1: kind of. And so if we if we ask where 294 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: this spring from in the modern age online, right, we 295 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 1: know that we know that beforehand it was relatively intuitive. Right, 296 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:21,719 Speaker 1: pay attention to this is what that means, especially if 297 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:25,160 Speaker 1: you're looking at a sentence where upper and lower case 298 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:28,320 Speaker 1: phrases are mixed together. If you look at all of them, 299 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:32,439 Speaker 1: you're going, oh, no, another forward email from one of 300 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:36,679 Speaker 1: my relatives or something. In the online sphere. Early Internet 301 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:42,800 Speaker 1: users would say this interpretation of all caps is shouting 302 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:46,160 Speaker 1: like the current president would go back to at least 303 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:51,000 Speaker 1: in March, there was a fellow named Dave Daco d 304 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:53,119 Speaker 1: E c O T who was at the time a 305 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 1: computer science student at Case Western Reserve University. In a forum, 306 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:03,760 Speaker 1: he aid out what he saw as three different types 307 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 1: of UM communication through visual design, right rather than content. 308 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: He said that there were three sorts of emphasis in use, 309 00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:18,119 Speaker 1: and he ordered them in popularity. So we're gonna start 310 00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:20,639 Speaker 1: at number three and go up to the most popular. 311 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: Number three, he said, was space c words out uh, 312 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:29,200 Speaker 1: you know, putting a space between the S, the P, 313 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: the A, the CD, I, n G in spacing. And 314 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:35,000 Speaker 1: it's interesting because the spacing out words thing is kind 315 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:38,680 Speaker 1: of stuck around, but more in an aesthetic way, with 316 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:42,600 Speaker 1: like meme pages and message boards and tumblr like as 317 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 1: a way of kind of creating sort of a fun 318 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: aesthetic look like. For example, there's a band that I 319 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:50,440 Speaker 1: really like, an electronic band called Survive, and the way 320 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,719 Speaker 1: their name is always printed is in all caps with 321 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:56,440 Speaker 1: a space between every letter. So this actually combines it, 322 00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:58,600 Speaker 1: which is what he said it would do, spacing words 323 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:01,480 Speaker 1: out possibly accompanied by one and two on this list 324 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:06,400 Speaker 1: to being using asterisks to put sparklers around an emphasized word. 325 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: I've never heard that before, so try to hear. This 326 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,440 Speaker 1: is going to be a fun experiment for everybody. Try 327 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: to read that sentence again and then put asterix if 328 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:18,600 Speaker 1: you can verbally around one of those words, and let's 329 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:21,000 Speaker 1: see if people can guess which one it is. Using 330 00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:26,119 Speaker 1: asterisks to put sparklers around emphasized words. I feel like 331 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:28,320 Speaker 1: that was pretty apparent, don't you. I wish I had 332 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,880 Speaker 1: a way like verbally to make my words sparkle. I 333 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,280 Speaker 1: think you do pretty well. I think we both do. 334 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:38,600 Speaker 1: And number one, of course, is using capital letters to 335 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: make the word look louder. It's true. So this again 336 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:51,399 Speaker 1: dates back to hardware issue, a technological adaptation issue. We 337 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 1: talked about early typewriters. I mentioned the evolution from upper 338 00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:59,439 Speaker 1: lower case for typewriters, but there was something similar that 339 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:04,240 Speaker 1: occurred with computer terminals. Yeah that's right. Um, this message 340 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: board post was just after computer terminals switched from all 341 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:09,320 Speaker 1: upper case, like you're talking about those old typewriters to 342 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:13,240 Speaker 1: mixed case keyboards. Um, so when you've got the option 343 00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:15,399 Speaker 1: of your writing in lower case or uper case letters, 344 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,520 Speaker 1: or a mix of the two. The early web thought 345 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:22,720 Speaker 1: that all caps was a great way to communicate emphasis 346 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:26,280 Speaker 1: or shouting. But if you didn't know what the the 347 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:30,320 Speaker 1: necticut I guess was, um, then using all caps just 348 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:33,440 Speaker 1: made you seem old, Like I was saying earlier, this 349 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:36,159 Speaker 1: idea that you were not up to date on the 350 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:41,560 Speaker 1: newer technology um or the new uh internet lingo? Right yeah, 351 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:45,560 Speaker 1: As as I pointed out with the typewriter's stuff, the 352 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:49,760 Speaker 1: implication is that perhaps somebody is still bound by pre 353 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 1: existing or un updated technology, or as Nuel mentioned, perhaps 354 00:22:55,240 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: they are not catching up on netiquet. So Fleishman was 355 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:05,640 Speaker 1: pretty clear that the Internet did not invent this. So 356 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 1: every time you get that crazy email or that strange 357 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:13,920 Speaker 1: text store, that that weird post in a forum where 358 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:19,160 Speaker 1: somebody's saying something relatively normal such as, I don't know, um, 359 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:22,199 Speaker 1: peanut butter sandwiches are actually pretty good with bananas and 360 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:26,280 Speaker 1: honey added, and it's all in caps. They might not 361 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,880 Speaker 1: know that they're yelling at you. It's it's a real 362 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:36,840 Speaker 1: thing and it existed before the Internet. They're smallpox. Sorry, 363 00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: it's actually it's actually a pretty good joke, and I 364 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 1: like the way Noel read it. And where does this 365 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:48,960 Speaker 1: leave us today? Well? Um, In this article how all 366 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:52,159 Speaker 1: caps came to signify shouting as in Trump's see you 367 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:56,760 Speaker 1: in Court? By Ben Greno from The Washington Post, Guarino 368 00:23:57,119 --> 00:24:01,679 Speaker 1: makes a really interesting point about the evolution of language. 369 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:05,679 Speaker 1: He cites a quote from Richard Sterling, who teaches at 370 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:09,639 Speaker 1: the University of California, Berkeley. He spoke the New York Times, 371 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,640 Speaker 1: and I was talking about this idea that younger Internet 372 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:14,680 Speaker 1: users who have been brought up with a much more 373 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:20,399 Speaker 1: casual attitude towards capitalization and punctuation, how casual emails often 374 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 1: are completely written in lower case. And he says, I 375 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:29,520 Speaker 1: think in the future capitalization will disappear. And he says 376 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,600 Speaker 1: he doesn't think it's that worrying at all, because language, 377 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:34,320 Speaker 1: as we've talked about in other episodes of the show, 378 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:39,600 Speaker 1: can evolve and and should be adaptable. But it's interesting 379 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:43,639 Speaker 1: because there is actually has been sort of a backlash 380 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:47,520 Speaker 1: against the caps lock key the key itself. Do you 381 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:50,160 Speaker 1: know about this, Ben, This is really interesting. Yeah, absolutely, 382 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:53,080 Speaker 1: tell us about it well. Um. In the New Republic 383 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:57,959 Speaker 1: article how capitalitters became Internet code for yelling, the author 384 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:01,760 Speaker 1: Alice rob spoke to a man by the name of 385 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:06,480 Speaker 1: Matthew J. X Malady, who made it his life's work, 386 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:09,280 Speaker 1: or at least part of it, to get rid of 387 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:13,080 Speaker 1: the caps lock key entirely. And he told Slate quote 388 00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:17,040 Speaker 1: the key is a nuisance. It's prime real estate, leading 389 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:22,240 Speaker 1: us to depress it unintentionally and often unwinningly. And the 390 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:26,679 Speaker 1: article also talks about a man named Peter Hinens who 391 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 1: launched a campaign called caps off in two thousand six 392 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:34,920 Speaker 1: uh to get the key removed from the keyboard entirely. 393 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: It was not a successful effort yet yet it is 394 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:42,680 Speaker 1: still around. But yeah, you know you use the shift key. 395 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:44,480 Speaker 1: Why do you even need caps lock? You just to 396 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:46,959 Speaker 1: hold down the shift key. Hilarious part about the caps 397 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:50,000 Speaker 1: off campaign, by the way, is that their slogan is 398 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:55,960 Speaker 1: stop shouting in all caps uh in in good riddance uh. 399 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:59,920 Speaker 1: The article by Christopher Beam on Slate UH. They also 400 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:05,200 Speaker 1: note that Google, when they unveiled their Google CR forty 401 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:09,440 Speaker 1: eight notebook, made the decision to ditch the cap slot key. 402 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:12,120 Speaker 1: No way, Yeah, they took it out. Oh man, you're 403 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 1: going to have to hold down shift ladies and gentlemen. 404 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,160 Speaker 1: And if you think about it, if you're looking at 405 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 1: if you're in the Western world, you're probably working with 406 00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:23,960 Speaker 1: a Querity computer named after the six letters at the 407 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 1: top left right. Then you can see if you look 408 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:29,240 Speaker 1: at your keyboard now, if you have one that caps 409 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,919 Speaker 1: like can shift are are kind of redundant. You know. 410 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:34,439 Speaker 1: You even noticed those little brail kind of hash marks 411 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:36,640 Speaker 1: on the F and the J keys on the keyboard. 412 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,880 Speaker 1: Apparently those are meant to help you find the home 413 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,040 Speaker 1: row touch type. You can touch type, and now I 414 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:43,439 Speaker 1: don't do that. I didn't want to type like that. 415 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: I just kind of learned, you know, thrown into the 416 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:47,400 Speaker 1: fire and just kind of figured it all out. I'm 417 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,040 Speaker 1: a child of the Internet. Um, this is neat though, 418 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:53,040 Speaker 1: this this movement away from all caps, and this like 419 00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 1: seeing it as being kind of ghost and like poor 420 00:26:56,080 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: communication skills. It extends to government agency that It turns 421 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:03,720 Speaker 1: out the National Weather Service had a history of using 422 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,560 Speaker 1: all caps and its weather reports, and that was because 423 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 1: the teletype machine that had been historically used only communicated 424 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:15,119 Speaker 1: in capital letters. But on April eleven, the National Weather 425 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,720 Speaker 1: Service UH sent a press release in all caps that 426 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:23,960 Speaker 1: said this listen up. Beginning on May eleven, Noah's National 427 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:29,159 Speaker 1: Weather Service forecasts will stop yelling at you. That's great. 428 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:38,400 Speaker 1: This is where we're at now. It appears that the 429 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: ragn of all caps maybe coming to a close as 430 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: Nedicut evolves. But I argue there's something greater at work here, 431 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:49,399 Speaker 1: and I want to see what you think about this, 432 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:57,200 Speaker 1: because we we see these backlashes against the language changing English, 433 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: the language we were speaking in case anybody was listening 434 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,160 Speaker 1: and wondering, what is this strange sound? I understand English 435 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:09,080 Speaker 1: is a living language, which means that it evolves by consensus, 436 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:12,320 Speaker 1: no matter um how the people at the O E. 437 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:17,280 Speaker 1: D Or Oxford English Dictionary labor. Ultimately, the people who 438 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,880 Speaker 1: speak the language decide what the language means and how 439 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:25,199 Speaker 1: it is best represented audibly or in type, in some 440 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:27,760 Speaker 1: sort of physical form. And now what we're seeing, despite 441 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:31,800 Speaker 1: the objection of the numerous so called grammar nazis, is 442 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:36,800 Speaker 1: a move away from punctuation, and we're moving toward or 443 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 1: should I say back toward an idio grammatic sort of language. 444 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:46,040 Speaker 1: With the rise of one of your favorite things, pal emoji, 445 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:51,920 Speaker 1: I'm a fan. You know. Our coworker Tristan, another superproducer 446 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 1: in the house Stuff Works family Um is a big 447 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:58,920 Speaker 1: fan of of communicating exclusively using emojis solely, and he 448 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:03,400 Speaker 1: only chose like three yeah, exactly, but somehow it gets 449 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:06,440 Speaker 1: the idea across. The O face emoji is the big one. 450 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,440 Speaker 1: He likes to use. And what we're noting here about 451 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:14,520 Speaker 1: the idea graphic use of emoji is that currently it 452 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:18,880 Speaker 1: seems really controversial. As we're recording this, just a few 453 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:22,320 Speaker 1: years back, pretty recent in the historical record, someone wrote 454 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:26,480 Speaker 1: a novel entirely in emoji, which I have not read, 455 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:29,400 Speaker 1: so I cannot comment on it. But there are a 456 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: lot of faces in it. Oh, there's an eggplant. That 457 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: might be the racy part here. There's a movie that's 458 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:39,040 Speaker 1: written all in emoji like a script. It's the Emoji Movie. Okay, 459 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:43,200 Speaker 1: it's really sad. Casey Pegram will cringe at this. But 460 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:48,560 Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia recently lifted its ban on public movie screenings 461 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:51,520 Speaker 1: and the first movie that was available for public screening 462 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:56,440 Speaker 1: was the Emoji Movie. So emoji are popular, and what 463 00:29:56,640 --> 00:30:03,720 Speaker 1: strange is that they're approaching a universality and ubiquity. Uh, 464 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:08,040 Speaker 1: they're approaching something like a common tongue. You and I 465 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:12,240 Speaker 1: don't have to speak Arabic in order to understand a 466 00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:15,800 Speaker 1: smiling face. It's true. But these, uh, these sets of 467 00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:19,240 Speaker 1: emoji graphics that come stock on a lot of phones 468 00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 1: have their roots in in Japan, and so there are 469 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:26,280 Speaker 1: a lot of of of emojis that have different meanings 470 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:29,120 Speaker 1: you know, to the Japanese and they do to us. 471 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:31,160 Speaker 1: And then there are the most more basic ones that 472 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:33,840 Speaker 1: they're just like, you know, a smiling face or the 473 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 1: O face or what have you, that we can take 474 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:39,000 Speaker 1: and understand more universally. But then they're you know, in 475 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:41,120 Speaker 1: these sets that you go real deep and they're like 476 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:44,760 Speaker 1: foods that maybe we're not super familiar with or just 477 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:46,719 Speaker 1: just I can't think of a specific example right now, 478 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,080 Speaker 1: can you? Yeah? Gestures? And I'm really glad you mentioned this, 479 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:54,000 Speaker 1: because while it is easier to communicate across languages and emoji, 480 00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:58,840 Speaker 1: it's not instant fluency. It's very culturally dependent. So in 481 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:03,440 Speaker 1: the Western world, or let's call it Abramaic religions from 482 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:08,560 Speaker 1: Judeo Christian values, uh, the folded hands like this are 483 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:14,320 Speaker 1: seen as representing prayer. Japanese emoji users will see it 484 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:18,920 Speaker 1: as a salutation, and younger people from a secular background 485 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:22,320 Speaker 1: think about this. I think it's a high five. Isn't 486 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: that interesting? Interesting? Or it could be just like kind 487 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:27,720 Speaker 1: of a wonder Twins united kind of I use it 488 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 1: as thank you? Is that the common use in the 489 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:33,520 Speaker 1: In America, I use it as thank you or an 490 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:39,040 Speaker 1: ironic bless up nice with a hashtag. So we bring 491 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:43,880 Speaker 1: emoji up just to show that the story of the 492 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:49,120 Speaker 1: all capital shout is one piece of a larger tapestry, 493 00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,880 Speaker 1: a tapestry that we as speakers of a language, as 494 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:59,040 Speaker 1: writers of a language, are helping to. We've collectively you're 495 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,600 Speaker 1: important or part of this. If you want the sebo 496 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:03,920 Speaker 1: colon to stay, then buy Gali. You have to fight 497 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,760 Speaker 1: for it. And if you want if you want to 498 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:10,640 Speaker 1: write entirely in emoji, the hieroglyphic of our time, then 499 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:12,840 Speaker 1: you have to fight for that as well, Because I mean, 500 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:15,360 Speaker 1: at the end of the day, communication is just about 501 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: the message, not the medium for the most part, right, 502 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:21,760 Speaker 1: So whatever works, uh is pretty much fair game. Or 503 00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:25,200 Speaker 1: at least that's the way it's seen with um texting 504 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:28,480 Speaker 1: and internet communication and all of this stuff that's led 505 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:31,720 Speaker 1: to where we are today. So what what is your 506 00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:37,000 Speaker 1: preferred method for conveying emphasis in text? Let us know 507 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:39,960 Speaker 1: how you let your significant other know that you're not 508 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,560 Speaker 1: grumpy when you send them a matter of fact text 509 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:45,520 Speaker 1: to pick up some milk from the store, because I'm 510 00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:47,600 Speaker 1: telling you it's so funny, like it's I do it 511 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:50,800 Speaker 1: myself where someone will send just text me okay, period 512 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,600 Speaker 1: or something and I'm like, WHOA, what did I do? 513 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:57,200 Speaker 1: You know? And it's so unreasonable. There's no you have 514 00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:00,440 Speaker 1: no inclination that this person isn't angrier that you've done anything. 515 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:02,400 Speaker 1: But it's so easy to get in your own head 516 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:05,080 Speaker 1: about what could be going on that would lead them 517 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:08,920 Speaker 1: to send you such a terse text. Please help us, 518 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:11,440 Speaker 1: let us know. How do you communicate emphasis? How do 519 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:14,000 Speaker 1: you communicate levity? We want to know. Write us at 520 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:17,040 Speaker 1: ridiculous at how stuff works dot com. You can also 521 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:19,440 Speaker 1: hit us up on social media where we are Ridiculous 522 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:25,320 Speaker 1: History on Facebook, Twitter, and also Instagram. You can additionally, 523 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:27,840 Speaker 1: while you're on the internet, check out an excellent key 524 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:34,040 Speaker 1: and Peel sketch about the dangers of communication via text, 525 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,440 Speaker 1: similar to the Kids in the Whole sketch about the 526 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:41,240 Speaker 1: guy who doesn't know that he sounds sarcastic. Bonus points, 527 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:45,320 Speaker 1: friends and neighbors. If you can in your email show 528 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:49,440 Speaker 1: us the form that you prefer. Don't don't just tell 529 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:51,840 Speaker 1: us about it, do the whole thing. If you send 530 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:56,760 Speaker 1: an email that is entirely an emoji, we will decipher it. 531 00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:59,120 Speaker 1: We have top people on the case, and one of 532 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:02,080 Speaker 1: those top people is Jesselyn Shields, who wrote the article 533 00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:05,080 Speaker 1: shouty caps are a much older invention than you think 534 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:08,400 Speaker 1: for how stuff works dot Com. So thanks to Jesselyn 535 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:11,279 Speaker 1: for her contributions to this episode, and of course we 536 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:15,600 Speaker 1: would also like to thank our super producer Casey Pegram 537 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:19,240 Speaker 1: and Alex Williams who wrote our theme and most importantly 538 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:22,560 Speaker 1: picture and asterix around this next word you Thanks for 539 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:25,279 Speaker 1: listening so sparkly all of you, and be sure to 540 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:31,280 Speaker 1: join us next time for another episode of Ridiculous History.