lowercase L

FOllOW US on SOCIAl MEDIA

2018-01-10T13:11:00.001-05:00

In the spirit of the New Year, and since no one "BlOGS" anymore, I've set up a new Instagram account for posting new lowercase L findings! Please FOllOW @lowercaseL on Instagram and Facebook, and contribute your own using the #lowercaseL hashtag.

Above, WOOD PEllETS submitted by Jason C.

BlACKEND WIlD

2017-08-31T23:45:00.000-04:00

Rabbi Matt Carl brings me out of retirement with this rare specimen discovered in Lowercase El Segundo, CA. In case you are counting, 1) BlACKENED 2) WIlD 3) BlKND 4) SAlMON 5) SAlSA 6) BlKND 7) All 8) COlESlAW. We may have a record here. #MOTHERlODE

SNl

2017-04-16T09:41:00.000-04:00

CONGRATUlATIONS! A new lowercase L from SNl.

Around 2:23.

Birthday Surprise

2015-09-06T22:41:00.001-04:00

My birthday was on Friday. Before enjoying a quiet Shabbat meal together, my wife and I went out for an evening stroll. When we returned, I found the above note on the ground in a cellophane wrapper along with a white envelope lying on the ground in front of our building, addressed to no one. So I opened it. Seems it was meant for me after all:

It took me several hours to finally concede that this was a mere coincidence and not a birthday card from a secret admirer. Yes, there is the obvious flaw with FlAWlESS, but hardcore lowercase L fans may remember this 2007 New York Times article by Emily Brady, "A FlAW HE CAN'T OVERLOOK."

A kind and flattering message that, after some consideration, seems more like a creepy stalkerish threat.

DON'T *EVER* FORGET IT.

GlOBAL WARMING

2015-04-15T22:09:00.000-04:00

Is there even a chance that the L in Banksy's statement on GlOBAL WARMING is uppercase underwater?

I seriously doubt it.

I DON'T BELIEVE IN GlOBAL WARMING ... BUT THE lOWERCASE L APOCALYPSE IS DEFINITELY UPON US.

GENERAl MEETING

2015-03-02T00:15:00.000-05:00

Lindsay W. in Tucsons, AZ offers:

Doolen Middle School (or should I say DOOIEN) is a repeat offender with the lowercase Ls. I could send a picture weekly.

Please do! And, if you are brave enough, perhaps you can confront the repeat offender. I wonder if anyone broached the topic at the SCPC GENERAl MEETING last month.

BlACK I'D PEE

2015-02-05T12:05:00.002-05:00

VICE recently posted an article by Andrew Iwanicki, the man who was paid to lie in bed for three months for a NASA experiment. Here he bids farewell to the pee jug he had urinated in for the last 70 days. Not sure why the word BlACK is written on the container. I hope that's not what color his urine was.

Anyway, it's comforting to know that NASA is trying to find a cure for the lowercase L syndrome, because the solution may be out of this WORlD.

lEGALIZE IT

2014-12-02T11:41:00.003-05:00

By now everyone and their mother—and their grandmother—has seen the YouTube viral video sensation "Grandmas Smoking Weed for the First Time," in which three adorable grandmas try marijuana in the state of Washington, where recreational cannabis use is now legal. In a memorable moment of the experiment, one of the giggly ganja grandmas tries to explain that she isn't stoned yet, carefully stating "I DON'T FEEl TO ME AS HIGH AS THEY LOOK TO ME." As with all good things on the Internet, the comment soon became a meme, and the accompanying graphic is currently being dissected on Reddit.

Interestingly, at the time of this post, the top Reddit comment notes "The 'L' seems off." Further down the thread, another Reddit contributor "Hemmerly" chimes in, "Only non capital letter. Driving me nuts."

Hemmerly, I KNOW THAT FEEL BRO. I devoted an entire blog to that feel bro.

Reddit user Nickleeee explains, "It's a capital I, rather than a lowercase L."

Realizing the mind-blowing and possibly detrimental effect that the lowercase L can have on a stoned individual, Reddit user ItsNotWhereItWas finally proclaims "Fixed it," replacing the lowercase l with a capital L, and not a moment too soon.

Now, I have some questions for the Reddit community, in case they stumble upon this post.

First, was the creator of the original advice animal meme high when he wrote the text?

Also, as far as I know, some meme generators will not allow you to write with lowercase letters, so the author may have either intentionally or mistakenly used an uppercase i. Was this intentional or accidental?

And, if it was intentional, was it meant to bend the minds of the stoned? If it was accidental, was the error noticed before posting as-is to Reddit? If so, why? Or was the error only noticed after being pointed out by the Reddit community? And if that's the case, WHY?

McDONAlD'S

2014-03-13T18:24:00.003-04:00

I usually write smart-ass commentary on the lowercase L photos submitted by readers, but in this case Holly Jenson and her programmer friend did fine on their own.

A friend of mine pointed out that, while we might assume that the intended word is "small," it could also very well be "smail" (an electronic mail transport protocol) or "smali" (an assembler for Java on the Android platform), "Java" being, of course, a slang term for coffee. Perhaps the Roseburg MacD's is actually offering up an Egg McMuffin with an embedded Java VM assembler, and for only $4.80!

Bonus points for the DOUBlE l! Or, smarties Holly and friend, is that actually binary for 3?

NO BICYClE PARKING

2013-12-10T00:40:00.001-05:00

Alan Belsky, first time caller, long time lowercase Listener, submits this duct taped drama from the heart of Brooklyn. Discovered at the Branded Saloon on Vanderbilt, the keen observer will recognize early signs of distress with the frayed uppercase i in BICYClE, which was likely first written as a Y. By the time he got to the second C, the author must have seen the writing on the wall, and resorted to the lowercase L squeeze technique. Bonus points for the overcompensatory uppercase L in LandLord.

SlAB results

2013-11-03T23:04:00.001-05:00

Nothing sounds more appealing than a Fresh HOT SlAB of BABY BACK RIBS Right off THE GRILL, all for just $10.99! Leslie in Denton, Texas discovered this mouthwatering deal at the local Kroger, where, she explained, you could watch them GRIll the SlAB right in front of you. I'm going to let those weak L's in GRILL slide because they have hints of uppercase-ness. But SlAB? I knew the day would come.

KElSI'S HOUSE

2013-10-28T22:29:00.003-04:00

Lowercase L champions Jeremy Davis and Gary Chapman share credit for reporting this breakup letter that went viral a few months ago. While I maintain the belief that every one of these snarky viral letters is a fake, the lowercase L AT KElSE'S HOUSE is real. So, "Honey," you are better off without her.

lESUS CHRIST!

2013-10-13T18:59:00.000-04:00

Gary Chapman, one of the keenest observers in the lowercase L business, makes his comeback with a real money shot. Upon reading the news, "Vatican misspells Jesus on Pope Francis commemorative coins: Embarrassing gaffe sees Latin inscription call the Christian Messiah 'Lesus'", you might wonder why a typographical error involving an uppercase L, apparently substituted for a J, would qualify for this website. Only the most experienced lowercase L hunters would recognize that this ungodly gaffe likely occurred when a maladroit minter saw Jesus's name written in Latin, IESVS or Iesus, and misinterpreted the uppercase i to be a lowercase L.

I blame the IllVMINATI for this, and all lowercase L dissent.

FlATSCREEN TV

2013-10-09T14:29:00.001-04:00

The Torah, some bible scholars purport, is composed of several distinct writing styles, and therefore is believed to have been written by multiple authors. Such may be the case with this post for a 40in. SONY BRAVIA FlATSCREEN TV, discovered by friend Amir Keinan at the corner of Carmine Street and 7th Avenue South in Manhattan. The first half of the post, ending with "WAllMOUNT INCl." seems to have been written by an author who either suffers from lowercase L dysgraphia, or is an anarchist who no longer wants to pay for cable and is finally catching up with Breaking Bad online. The second half of the post suddenly shifts gears with properly capitalized L's in FOR SALE $400 CALL VAL. I don't know, should we call VAL and ask her what's up?

AS I lAY DYING

2013-10-06T10:46:00.000-04:00

James Franco is popping up everywhere in the media. Apparently he was in ten movies in 2013 that I never heard of, plus a guest appearance on two episodes of The Mindy Project and a recent interview on The Howard Stern Show. And now, as Joe Clark points out, he's making his #lowercaseL debut via Twitter and Instagram! I suppose I'm looking forward to checking out "Logan marshal green in AS I lAY DYING!" on October 11, as Franco suggests with a tweet, especially since I liked Marshall-Green as Charlie Holloway in Prometheus. I'm also looking forward to Franco issuing a public apology and explanation for how the HEll he managed to switch off CAPS-LOCK on his iPhone mid-Tweet. Now I'm skeptical about the release date, too—he may have actually meant October LL, Roman numerals for 50+50, or October 100, which is not for a while.

BAlANCED DiET

2013-10-03T15:38:00.001-04:00

Fellow ROI (that's Roi, not R-Zero-lowercase L) Community member Shai Davis pointed out these unbalanced words of wisdom on the popular 9GAG photo blog. Does this count as a true example of lowercase L, Shai asks, even though the sentence contains only lowercase L's and lowercase i's, besides the other uppercase letters? YES! Especially since those lowercase L's are in different words than the lowercase i's.

While it may be true that A BAlANCED DiET iS A GlASS OF WiNE iN EACH HAND, our disturbed scribe at (I think) Café ONS should also note that a balanced sentence contains appropriately capitalized L's and i's, especially when used in the context of all uppercase letters. Perhaps our bibulous scribbler already had a glass of wine in each hand while writing this sign.

I think collaboration earns Shai an ROI Micro Grant!

Join the lIBRARY

2013-09-22T21:06:00.001-04:00

Adrian Bailey (@dadge) submitted the first #lowercaseL via Twitter today. This story from BBC News explains:

An edit to graffiti on a wall in County Tyrone has become a Twitter hit.

The graffiti, which was sprayed on a small building in Strabane, originally said 'Join the IRA'.

An unknown person with a spray can changed it to 'Join the lIBRARY.'

A photograph of the edited graffiti was tweeted by teacher and writer Brian McGilloway.

If the graffiti artist ever takes claim, will he be ridiculed for the embarrassing use of a lowercase L, or just defacing property?

Frequency IllUSION

2013-07-24T20:19:00.000-04:00

Once you know about the inexplicable misuse of lowercase L's within otherwise all uppercase words, you begin to see them everywhere. When that happens, you are experiencing “frequency illusion,” better known as the Baader Meinhof phenomenon.

VINYl

2013-07-16T22:18:00.000-04:00

Paper reports that Afrika Bambaataa donated his vinyl to Cornell University Library's Hip Hop Collection. "THis AlBUM," Funk Reaction by Lonnie Smith, bears a funky inscription on the cover art. This is why vinyl is dead.

WORlD Whistleblower

2013-06-19T21:05:00.000-04:00

Some may consider Edward Snowden a hero, but whistleblower Adam Wells, known for his convincing digital image manipulation, is the real hero for coming forward and reporting this lowercase L Instagram. Apparently, the WORlD CAN'T Wait.org for Truth ... about poorly constructed URLs. Besides being another WORlD issue, this URL also contains an apostrophized CAN'T, when, technically, a URL cannot.

ClASSIC PASTA

2013-06-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

Mamma mia! Ben Perry discovered this half baked Fazoli's sign advertising ClASSIC PASTA at the Aurora Mall in Aurora, Colorado. Maybe all the readerboard L's were lost during their infamous All You Can Eat Lasagna and Linguini Buffet of 2012.

A Touch of ClASS

2013-06-09T13:38:00.003-04:00

Phill P-T overcame road rage and managed to capture this photo of the decorated rear windshield of the car belonging to a proud graduate of the ClASS of 2013, likely from my alma mater, the University of Delaware, in Newark, DE. If UDel faculty had discovered this blunder, though, I believe there may have been reasonable cause to retract his degree.

This is not a new phenomenon, folks. It is a tried and true tradition. GO HENS!

ClOSED CAPTIONING

2013-05-30T21:32:00.002-04:00

Jacky explains:

Tonight while watching the most recent episode of Smash ("The Tonys") on IMDb through Hulu, I spotted the strangest lowercase L. I have some hearing problems so I watch most shows with closed captioning, and there it was my first lowercase L, in the abbreviation for Los Angeles (or l.A.).

My guess is that some intern is typing these captions in real time, hit that shift key a split second too late. Or he's actually heading to Iowa.

The VIGIlANTE

2013-05-06T22:39:00.002-04:00

Who is responsible for correcting typos and grammar on placards in the sculpture garden of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn? I swear, it wasn't me. But I like his style.

OlD BulB

2013-05-01T12:47:00.002-04:00

Found in my father-in-law's basement, an OlD BulB went off, reminding me that misusing a lowercase L when storing junk in the closet is not an unheard of phenomenon. Also noticed the single correctly capitalized OLD Bulb in the lower left corner, and wondered if that bulb burned out on a different day.

Thanks for the photo, Moshe Kurzweil!