lowercase L

BlONDE ROAST

2012-01-11T08:53:00.004-05:00

John returns to lowercase L with a BlONDE Roast you can buy at Starbucks in Holland, MI. The BlO prefix reads like the coffee is either organic or very strong.

Taxonomy FAIl

2011-12-28T17:18:00.001-05:00

This CAT FOUND ad may be a joke, but the address written as SUNSET BlVD is not.

TYPOGRAPHY FAIl

KIM JONG Il, PART II

2011-12-19T06:44:00.003-05:00

Update: KIM JONG IL DIES ... NOT KIM JONG Il

KIM JONG Il DIES

2011-12-19T00:26:00.002-05:00

If it's Kim Jong Il with an uppercase i and a lowercase L, then it should read KIM JONG IL DIES in an ALL CAPS headline, no? Alert CNN iReport! Or is that CNN lREPORT? WE MAY NEVER KNOW.

UPDATE: KIM JONG IL DIES, NOT KIM JONG Il

Driveway ClOSED

2011-12-13T22:49:00.001-05:00

Katie explains,

Saw this outside a movie theater a few blocks from my house (Regal Cinemas in Simi Valley, CA), where the parking lot lines were being repainted. I'm not sure why they needed to ciose the driveway, but it sure seemed important.

As an added bonus, this sign isn't even in front of a driveway, and the 'i' in "Driveway" is missing its dot. TRIPlE FAIl.

MAZEl TOV, ElANA AND DAVID

2011-12-04T18:10:00.001-05:00

Neighbors and friends, ElANA and David, tied the knot today!

In a rare opportunity for lowercase L insight, ElANA explained that she had begun to write her initials in the sand, but when she saw that her fellow sand writers were spelling their full names, she turned what would have been a capital H into a lowercase L, followed by the rest of the letters in her first name, to save room before running into the rising tide.

ClASS on the Glass

2011-11-28T23:43:00.001-05:00

Jeff feels that this ClASS of 2011 student at Valley Regional High School in Deep River, CT may have skipped a ClASS or two.

A Perfect lowercase L Storm

2011-11-22T12:18:00.001-05:00

"Are you still doing this?"

That was the Subject of Berger's e-mail, no message, just the attached photo. This lowercase L event is so perfect, even if I wasn't "doing this" anymore, I'd be compelled to bring the blog out of retirement just so I could post the photo. Spotted in a jeweler's window around 88th Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan, Berger noted that he was surprised by the flood of improperly used lowercase L's considering the ritzy address. "FACIAl ONlY, JEWElRY MAKING, HAIR EXTENSIONS, WAlK-INS WElCOME".

And if you look closely, the uppercase i's on the sign behind the glass are unnecessarily dotted.

COlDPlAY

2011-11-18T13:53:00.001-05:00

This is a screenshot of the video for Coldplay's latest single, "Paradise".

When she was just a girl
She expected the WORlD
But got worried when she saw the WORlD spelled
with a lowercase L.

Those are the actual lyrics.

Here's the video below. If you don't like Coldplay, you can just sing "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster The People in its place, it lines up pretty nicely.

ASK NICElY

2011-11-17T00:44:00.001-05:00

Michael sets up the video:

This classic lowercase l is featured in episode 4 of Yacht Rock, the hilarious series of clips about late '70s/early '80s soft rock. Toto keyboardist Steve Porcaro is explaining to the rest of the band how they're going to get Michael McDonald to sing on their song "Rosanna." They didn't succeed. Possibly because of this lowercase l.

ASK NICElY, and you can watch the video and see for yourself:

Occupy lA

2011-11-15T23:55:00.001-05:00

Marcus Freed may have only recently moved from across the pond to LA, but he was quick to adopt our revolutionary spirit and take to the streets to Occupy LA. It wasn't long before Marcus was exposed to another national pastime: the improper use of lowercase L's in words that are otherwise all uppercase letters. This particular picket sign informs us that "Rothchilds ARE the Federal Reserve (which is NOT even federal, it's a GlOBAL BANK meant to keep us in debt). Compare this GlOBAL to this previous submission from a Jewish innovation conference in Israel:

Notice the same lowercase L in the middle of the word, and the same uppercase L at the end? Coincidence? Or, as Marcus suspects, CONSPIRACY of the Elders of ZION????

CASUAlTiES of ll-ll-ll

2011-11-09T22:47:00.002-05:00

Schlake found this disturbing letter sent to the Socorro City police department in an appropriately titled article in the El Defensor Chieftain, "Disturbing letter sent to police department". The author warns "the CORRUPt DEVilS" that, on Friday, November 11, 2011, he will direct his wrath upon the people of Socorro, and that "PlENTY OF PARASiTES Will JOin" him. Of course, the CASUAltiES are scheduled for 11-11-11, or as we call it here in lowercase L, ll-ll-ll. Perhaps just as disturbing as the threat itself is the author's dysgraphic writing style, mixing upper and lowercase letters, though props for at least making the lowercase L's slightly taller than the other uppercase letters, and using lowercase i's to help distinguish the lowercase L's. I hope the authorities find the person who would commit such atrocities and put him behind bars. Also to prevent him from hurting anyone.

BIllIONS Wasted

2011-11-04T14:26:00.002-04:00

Triumph the Insult Dog discovered this tragedy at the Occupy Wall Street movement in Zuccotti Park. I'm not talking about the "BIllIons WAStED-ON WARS, MEDICAD FRAUD, ECT". I'm talking about this poorly constructed sign, especially the cascading lowercase L in BIllIons.

PlEASE POST

2011-10-31T08:27:00.000-04:00

Okay, okay, Doug in the Lakehurst, NJ post office, we'll post!

TACO BEll

2011-10-30T01:24:00.002-04:00

Our cop friends at Grammar Police realize that there's more to policing a world of signs than focusing just on grammatical errors. Sometimes you have to call out penmanship and, in this case, readerboard lettermanship. This sign for Taco Bell in COlDWATER, MI, advertises tempting 99¢ FlATBREAD CHICKEN SANDWICH, which is, apparently, a plump chicken sandwich after it has been run over by a Fiat.

Occupy WAll Street

2011-10-06T00:06:00.002-04:00

GAl chose to participate in the Occupation of Wall Street from the safety and comfort of her own home, staying connected with online commentary like this YouTube clip of a Keith Olbermann report, in which a young demonstrator asks, "THE WHOLE WORLD IS GOING BANKRUPT TOWHO? DEBT = SlAVERY". Little did GAl know that she had exposed herself to just as much risk online as she would have faced on the crowded streets of New York City if had joined her fellow protestors outside. I'm talking about the risk of exposure to inappropriate lowercase L's in otherwise all uppercase signage.

At the 1:54 mark:

WAlMART

2011-10-03T14:54:00.002-04:00

Jamie never felt compelled to patronize the local mom-and-pop shops in Gilroy, California ... until THIS happened! She has since cut up her WAlMART CREDIT CARD, just like WAlMART cut the uppercase from the L.

Little MUSSElS

2011-09-21T00:18:00.001-04:00

Brooklyn neighbor, Skooter, believes there may be a very meta lowercase L Conspiracy conspiracy, deeper than I ever would have imagined:

I saw this today at Double Windsor on Prospect Park West in Brooklyn. A few thoughts: didn't they notice the problem with "garlic," when there was the lowercase "l" next to the capital "I"? How come "SPECIALS" is capitalized correctly? Considering this is a literate bar with a nerdy/yuppie clientele in Brownstone Brooklyn, is it at all possible that they did this intentionally in order to bait "lowercase l"?

Skooter makes a good point. Most lowercase L offenders would get SPECIAlS wrong, but that is not the case here. Instead we are treated to more subtle lowercase L errors as we read on, including MUSSElS, GARlIC (bonus for the lowercase L followed by the uppercase i!), Spicy HEIRlOOM Tomato, Beet SAlAD w/ ARUGUlA, OMElETTE ... a literal buffet of lowercase L's to chose from! And, impressively, other than the lowercase L's, everything seems to be spelled correctly, even the more exotic words that could easily have been misspelled by even the most highly qualified waitstaff: ARUGUlA, pistachios, Parmesan, and Nueske bacon.

This may be the best example of lowercase L abuse yet.

BEST GRAMMAR BlOG?

2011-09-15T15:04:00.000-04:00

Grammar.net have announced the Grammer.net Contest for the Best Grammar BlOG of 2011, and have nominated lowercase L as a contestant.

You can help raise lowercase L awareness by voting for lowercaseL.com as your favorite grammar blog. If we receives 5 votes, we have a chance at winning a prize. All proceeds will go toward lowercase L research, with the hopes of one day understanding this disturbing phenomenon, and, eventually, finding a cure.

Thank you for your support,

WIllIAM lEVIN
Founder, lowercase L

CASTlEVANIA 2

2011-09-15T14:41:00.001-04:00

Jump to the 6:31 mark

James Rolfe, a.k.a. The Angry Video Game Nerd, reviews poorly designed video games. In his relatable review of the classic NES game sequel, CASTlEVANIA II: Simon's Quest, not only does AVGN describe this game as being one of the worst designed ever, he brings up a legitimate point about the confusing use of lowercase letters—especially the lowercase L—in passwords. At the 6:31 mark:

In general I hate games that have passwords like this, because sometimes they have uppercase and lowercase letters. Like the L's, you know, look like i's, the zeroes look like O's, the 8's look like 5's, so, you know, why does there have to be so many digits? You know, like, why can't it just be numbers or something? Like, you know, just numbers and not letters? I mean, it takes me like 5 minutes to enter this code when it should only take like 5 seconds. It's friggin' stupid.

Game over, dude! I couldn't have said it better myself, AVGN.

FACElESS NEIL

2011-09-12T14:07:00.003-04:00

From the award winning animated short movie website, "FACElESS NEIL is a dark comedy for children about friendship and gentle monsters." Rated inappropriate for young children because of the flagrant use of confusing lowercase L's that look like slashes.

lOTT of lowercase L's

2011-09-04T17:33:00.000-04:00

Rimpy Returns with FlOWER BOUQUETS for the long holiday weekend, discovered on lOTT RD. And that's a lOTT of lowercase L's where there should be uppercase.

BlACK MINT

2011-08-31T08:53:00.000-04:00

Ozzie's coffeehouse is shutting down on 7th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, most likely due to the confusion caused by random lowercase L's that appeared throughout the join, like this pot of BlACK MINT. It's not about anything else you may have read.

AMBUlETTE

2011-08-28T03:06:00.000-04:00

As we hunker down in Brooklyn in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Irene, emergency teams are gearing up, preparing for the worst. LOOK OUT! The wind is so strong tonight that it blew the uppercase right off the L in AMBUlETTE.

Try ANGlE

2011-08-19T17:29:00.000-04:00

I'm so not handy, I had to look up what an ANGlE GRINDER is. Apparently it is a tool that is used to grind off the angles of uppercase letters, like an L, to make it into a lowercase L, which has no sharp angles, and looks remarkably like an uppercase i. Either that or this toolbox belongs to Angie Grinder, and she left it behind on the sidewalk here in Park Slope..