lowercase L

AlASKA FAIl

2009-12-13T10:18:00.004-05:00

Here's a lowercase L that Sarah Palin would be proud of. This AlASKA backpack was discovered on the FAIl Blog by Kit, who points out:

1. An uppercase L was clearly substituted with an uppercase i.
2. The Canadian flag, for Alaska?
3. Since 1988?

Now, can someone explain the backpack to the left: L HEART NY?

CARlSBERG

2009-11-29T02:36:00.004-05:00

LOOK! Peter W. explained how difficult it is to find lowercase L mistakes in his country, which is why this frothy CARlSBERG calamity discovered in St. Ives, Cambridgeshire in England was particularly rewarding.

Thrift Rift

2009-11-18T11:31:00.003-05:00

Girl after my own heart, Shana G, submitted this curbside abomination, just in time for the holiday season. Found outside the church-run thrift shop on 96th Street in Manhattan — where I once bought a solid Samsonite wheeled luggage for $10! — Shana points out that HOlDAY could either be missing an uppercase i or an uppercase L, but either way the whole thing is a mess. I might suggest that the author, confused by his own faulty penmanship after carelessly scribbling a lowercase L, thought he had already written the uppercase i in HOLIDAY, and continued writing from that point.

And to think I once patronized this establishment!

TEFlON

2009-11-17T17:02:00.002-05:00

Repeat offender outer Rimpy submits a new find from Home Depot, which is apparently becoming a depot for improperly used lowercase L's. I'm not sure how DuPont would feel about their TEFlON brand being misrepresented like this. Without the uppercase L, it's just plain old POlYTETRAFlUOROETHYlENE.

Eldorado POOl

2009-11-14T15:14:00.003-05:00

It starts with P, rhymes with T, and that stands for TROUBLE! That's what Jeremy thinks of the POOl hall he found on West 11, just a few blocks from the VEGETABlES in Eugene, Oregon.

DOUBlE Trouble

2009-11-06T15:27:00.003-05:00

Sarah found this DOUBlE AD SUNDAY, ironically, at the L&L Food Center in Holt, Michigan. No wonder there is PlENTY OF PARKING.

No L in our POOl

2009-10-26T23:40:00.002-04:00

Michael A. from Newtown, MA inquires:

It's perplexing enough why someone would want to pull off the road in Newtown, Massachusetts, and pick up some "POOl WATER." But actively choosing a lowercase l out of a box of letters is a whole different ballgame from simply writing one. Why, oh, why, pool water purveyor? That takes the kind of singlemindedness and sense of purpose that our nation so sorely lacks today.

I'm wondering if that red sequence of numbers is the phone number, or the number of people who have stopped by to ask, "Why the f**k are you selling POOl WATER?"

A Rose SAlE is a Rose SAlE

2009-10-20T02:14:00.003-04:00

Bob of sister blog Why a Tittle? reports from Route 1, north of Bath, Maine with this roadside ANNUALS and ROSE SAlE. This example just furthers my suspicion that readerboard letter manufacturers aren't distributing enough uppercase L's, as the fellow who arranged this sign seems to have started off with good intentions. Still, despite this reasonable explanation, Bob was wise in exercising caution by remaining in his car and snapping the photo from a safe distance, as you can see in the full photo below.

REAl Estate

2009-10-19T00:09:00.003-04:00

Adam in Brooklyn found this landlord's lowercase L in the window of a real estate agency on Court Street. Is a REAl 2 bedroom apartment just as real as one written with all uppercase letters? This looks like another case of premature un-capitalization, the result of letting go of the shift key one letter too soon.

BlAH

2009-10-14T00:47:00.004-04:00

Still feeling BlAH after the flu, but just enough energy to post this bit of NYC vandalism.

WAlGREENS

2009-10-13T01:01:00.004-04:00

Fellow blogger Bob believes the person who spelled out the message on this reader board in Jacksonville, Florida had a choice between uppercase and lowercase L in WAlGREENS. But I'm beginning to think I've never actually seen an uppercase L used on a reader board, and the letter manufacturers may not even produce them. Perhaps they just want us to use an upside-down 7 instead. That would actually be better than using the lowercase L, I think.

The Lowercase L Depot

2009-10-08T00:25:00.003-04:00

Lowercase L regular contributor Rimpy Rimpington returns with more tragedy from The Home Depot. When asked about the source of these lowercase L offenses, like the WASHERlESS Kitchen Faucet, and the BlOWER/TRIMMER below, Rimpy explained:

There is more than one HD associate responsible for those signs, because they come from two different stores. I do know one sign maker who sometimes uses the lowercase L, but I'm afraid to question her about it. If anyone at those stores got a hint I've been mercilessly blogging (or contributing to blogs) about them, I might be in big trouble. Besides, if they stopped doing it, a steady source of bloggable material would dry up.

Either way, Rimpy, we appreciate your dedication to the cause. Like any good anthropologist, you are making the right choice to not interfere with this natural psychological phenomenon.

GlOVES Off

2009-10-05T20:07:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, I'm just recovering from the FlU. We return with a disturbing series of images taken by Jamie at a True Value store in Hollister, CA. Jamie also wonders why, unlike the green and yellow GlOVES, there is only one gray GlOVE for sale below. That doesn't seem like a True Value at all.

FlU season

2009-09-24T00:29:00.002-04:00

'Tis the season ... FlU season, that is. Mrs. HLP found this sign for FlU SHOTS outside the local Kroger supermarket in Kentucky, where apparently the Health Department are running out of the vaccine. It looks like the first symptoms of the FlU are already beginning to affect the local residents — impaired judgement, acute dysgraphia ... the situation does not look good. Some poor employee at the Kroger market is already infected. If you run into him, use the grocery store scene in this Zombieland trailer as your guide to survival.

Silly PHIllY

2009-09-21T22:56:00.004-04:00

I'm beginning to think that the folks who make letters for reader board signs and marquees absolutely do not manufacture any uppercase L's. Nephi and Katherine Allred spotted this offense at the Leatherby's in Salt Lake City, Utah. The combination of a double lowercase L preceded by an uppercase i makes this PHIllY CHEESE STEAK a particularly juicy treat. Definitely in the top 5 best lowercase L's ever submitted to date. SlC should stick to film festivals.

ClEANING time

2009-09-18T00:08:00.003-04:00

My buddy Berger Boy has proven himself a worthy friend once again. Found on Park Place between Underhill and Washington in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, Paul submits this GARBAGE REMOVAL ClEANING van. The lowercase-ness of the L is even more emphasized by the uppercase-ness of the i. Regardless of the L offense, I wouldn't hire a Man with a Van who was too cheap to at least paint a logo, instead of using a magic marker.

Bug in a Rug

2009-09-13T17:50:00.003-04:00

This rug FOR SAlE isn't such a rare find, with SAlE being one of the most common lowercase L offenses I've catalogued. But with the fellow selling the rug sitting right next to his merchandise as I snapped the photo, this scenario did present a rare opportunity to delve into the psychology of the lowercase L offender.

"Why are you taking a picture of my rug?" he asked.

"Oh, it's for a silly art project I'm working on, a photo blog about handwriting" I replied, keeping it vague to avoid having to explain, or worse, embarrassing the rugged rogue.

He pressed on, "And what is so special about my handwriting?"

I couldn't let the opportunity pass, since he confirmed having written the sign himself. "Well, my blog is about using lowercase L's in words that are otherwise written entirely in uppercase letters. You see here, you spelled SAlE with a lowercase L, which looks misleadingly like an uppercase i." I had to know, "So, were you aware that you wrote your L in this manner?"

In an attempt to save face in front of his friends, rug guy explained, with a series of incongruous gestures, "Well, yeah, I guess I did that on purpose, you know, because of the uppercase S, and the A, and the E ..."

His explanation didn't make sense. I felt his cognitive dissonance kicking in, as the rug salesman's expression went from cavalier to concerned. "Does that mean there's something wrong with me?" His friends giggled.

"Oh, not at all," I reassure him, somewhat unconvincingly, "It's a more common habit than you might imagine".

I walked away without buying the rug. I never intended to, anyway.

FlAVORS of the month

2009-09-12T18:44:00.003-04:00

Travis J. swears he didn't try any FlAVORS of the mini booze bottles located behind the counter at Mars' Cheese Castle in Kenosha, WI, presumably because of the improperly placed lowercase L. Though he was lenient enough to try the cheese, which, he says, was excellent.

Speaking of flavors, I spotted this flavored steamers dragon at a coffee shop in Brattleborough, VT a few months ago. While it isn't a case of lowercase L amidst uppercase letters, the L is still misleadingly small, like an i, I think.

So I'm breaking the rules and posting it here.

ElEVATOR

2009-09-07T23:13:00.003-04:00

Hillary found this ElEVATOR sign in Beijing. It is easy to dismiss a lowercase L error in the Eastern world as one that was lost in translation. But I blame the mistake on us lazy Westerners, who can't keep a simple 26-letter alphabet simple and consistent. As a result, these Beijing elevator goers get the shaft.

PUMPERNICKEl

2009-09-06T21:35:00.003-04:00

Lara found this lowercase L bagel blunder at Manhattan Bagel in Lawrence Township, NJ. This could be a case of letter crunching, since there would not have been room for PUMPERNICKEl to fit with the uppercase L on the black placard. Still, this sign makes me feel like something is missing. I'll go with the everything bagel instead.

BlOWOUT SALE

2009-09-02T00:00:00.002-04:00

While SAlE is one of the more common lowercase L offenses, sometimes it's not the SALE that is the offending word. In this case, it's the L in BlOWOUT SALE that is blown out. Discovered on 5th Avenue here in Park Slope, Brooklyn, the store was probably liquidating and going out of business ... and they wonder why.

COlD SODAS

2009-08-31T00:23:00.004-04:00

This week marks the end of the summer, and possibly the end of Coney Island as we know it. This steely blue sign for COlD SODAS may have something to do with it, taken earlier this month when friend Meir and I rode our bikes down to the boardwalk.

SAlE 10% OFF

2009-08-30T09:00:00.002-04:00

Ash P. found this sad sign at a now-defunct furniture store in Chandler, Arizona, where they once boasted a "SAlE 10% OFF eveything". Apparently that included the uppercase L in SALE and the letter r in "everything".

FlAT broke

2009-08-29T22:29:00.003-04:00

Jason Lee found this extra can of paint left behind by the builders. The INTERIOR FlAT makes me want to get in touch with the small car inside.

FOREClOSURES

2009-08-20T11:59:00.003-04:00

It's hard enough to be losing your home in a foreclosure. Now rub it in with some lowercase L salt with this FREE & ClEAR sign right in front of your house as people drive by, gawking. In this submission found by Mike S. on Flickr, the lowercase L in Foreclosures isn't too bad — we're letting very tall lowercase L's amidst small caps slide. But the lowercase L in FREE & ClEAR is a clear breach of capitalization conduct.