The Rise of Lowercase Aesthetics
It is often said that the most insufferable person you know is the one who insists on writing entirely in lowercase. They may argue that this stylistic choice reflects a casual, laid-back attitude. More often than not, they are a twenty-something who wishes to be seen not as “the voice” of their generation but as “a voice of a generation,” and they frequently share screenshots of pretentious musings and pseudo-intellectual reflections, comparing Charli XCX to the Pope. But what motivates this trend? Are they aware that they are partaking in a long-standing, exclusive tradition?
The Feminine Touch of Lowercase Writing
For a segment of the online community, writing in lowercase has become synonymous with femininity. Rayne Fisher-Quann, a 25-year-old based in Brooklyn, asserts that it represents a formal characteristic of how women interact in digital spaces. Known for her personal essays entirely penned in lowercase on her blog, Internet Princess, Fisher-Quann believes this style neutralises the self-importance often associated with personal narratives. In her view, it acts as a shield against criticism.
Her sentiment is rooted in the digital realms she explored during her formative years. “I drew immense intellectual enrichment and influence from the feminist Tumblr of the early 2010s,” she recalls. Over a decade ago, microblogging was thriving on platforms like Tumblr, with pages such as justgirlythings leading the way. This site pioneered the art of overlaying a lowercase phrase in serif font over desaturated images, typically of a young woman draped in a baggy shirt, seated beside a fireplace. The themes ranged from “rainy days” to “lazy Sundays.” Becky Campos, the blog’s creator, intended it to feel as if one were reading a personal diary rather than a polished text.
The Impact of Rupi Kaur’s Poetry
Then there was Rupi Kaur, the “instapoet” of my generation. Her work delved into the raw and unrefined aspects of female experience, often opting for lowercase letters unless accompanied by images, which themselves became visual poetry. This accessible vulnerability resonated deeply with millennial women; in 2016, Kaur’s first collection, Milk and Honey, sold ten times more copies than the next best-selling poetry book, The Odyssey. To be fair, Homer lacked Instagram.
While Kaur describes her preference for lowercase as an “ode to my identity as a Punjabi Sikh woman of the diaspora,” it is worth noting that the Gurmukhi script does not differentiate between uppercase and lowercase. This has contributed to the association of lowercase writing with femininity during the early years of social media.
Subverting Expectations in Online Culture
This narrative could conclude here if the internet were solely a female domain. However, to burst my own algorithmic bubble: behind every follower of justgirlythings lurks a dedicated 4chan user. “I’m willing to accept that lowercase usage has aesthetic roots among young Tumblr users, but no major online communities adhere to traditional punctuation,” states Adam Aleksic, a linguist known as etymologynerd.
To bolster his point, he opens 4chan on his phone and scrolls through a plethora of musings, all written in lowercase. The forum’s unique culture eschews traditional formatting, leading users to develop their own markup conventions, such as using asterisks for emphasis. Although many might argue that lowercase writing signals youth, platforms like 4chan remind us that this practice extends far back and is part of a broader tradition. “Lowercase? It started with the model 33 TTY of a single typeface. Now it’s a habit,” Ken Thompson writes, in lowercase, declining my request for an interview.
The Historical Roots of Lowercase Writing
Ken Thompson, aged 83, is one of the pioneers behind the internet’s very existence. His email references the model 33 teletype, a popular terminal for telecommunications introduced in 1963. In the 1950s, computers operated on terminals that allowed only 64 distinct characters, leaving no room for lowercase letters. Consequently, most early programming languages, such as Fortran and Lisp, were exclusively in uppercase. It was not until the 1960s and 70s, when hardware production advanced and memory costs plummeted, that the inclusion of more characters became feasible.
In early 1969, Thompson found himself with an abundance of free time after being reassigned from a project at Bell Labs. He decided to adapt a video game he had created, Space Travel, to a more accessible PDP-7 computer he found in a neighbouring department. This led to a complete reconfiguration of the PDP-7’s operating system, and alongside colleagues Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Bob Morris, he initiated the development of Unix. This new operating system made programming more user-friendly and eliminated the need for programmers to rewrite code for each new computer model. Notably, Unix supported both uppercase and lowercase letters.
The Evolution of Coding Conventions
As Unix gained traction among research institutions and companies, conventions for uppercase and lowercase usage in code emerged to differentiate variables from constants—snake_case for the former and SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE for the latter. Over time, these naming conventions, coupled with the collaborative programming culture fostered by Unix, evolved into a kind of protocol. Adhering to these conventions facilitated readability for fellow programmers, while excessive uppercase usage began to be perceived as poor etiquette. When this practice made its way to Usenet, the global network established in 1979, the Jargon File, known as the hackers’ dictionary, already associated writing EVERYTHING IN UPPERCASE with “SHOUTING.”
The Shift in Online Communication
Initially, the internet was a space predominantly occupied by geeks—those with technical know-how, steeped in jargon filled with abbreviations and lowercase writing. However, this dynamic shifted dramatically in September 1993 when AOL transformed Usenet access into a subscription service, attracting a new wave of users. These newcomers, unfamiliar with the informal norms that had previously governed these spaces, began using more conventional grammar and standard uppercase usage. As these new users proliferated, the hacker-style lowercase language receded into the background, and traditional uppercase usage solidified as the norm.
This does not imply that Tumblr’s teenage users wholly appropriated the lowercase trend from early internet geeks on 4chan. However, it does suggest that this stylistic choice may always have been a hallmark of those on the fringes.
The Contemporary Meaning of Lowercase Writing
Writing in lowercase conveys an “informality” that many perceive as “cool.” Gretchen McCulloch, author of Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, illustrates lowercase writing as a classic example of “resemanticisation”—the process by which a form of expression acquires a new meaning. Take “lol,” for example. Originally serving a specific function, it has evolved to signify indifference or downplay something in various contexts. The same transformation has occurred with lowercase writing, which now bears little resemblance to its hacker origins or its later adoption as a feminine symbol.
In today’s digital landscape, lowercase can even be a clickbait tactic. Gong.io, an AI marketing data company, analysed over 85 million unsolicited emails and found that those with lowercase subject lines received double the open rates compared to their capitalised counterparts. I’ve heard of individuals my age opting for lowercase to avoid the perception that capital letters in texts and dating apps are “too intense.” Additionally, lowercase can signify status: when Jack Dorsey laid off 40% of his staff in February, he did so in a tweet written entirely in lowercase. “The higher your position, the less formal your emails,” remarks Michelle Liang, a venture capitalist specialising in tech growth.
Subversive Undertones of Lowercase Usage
Yet, in some online circles, the notion persists that writing in lowercase embodies a rebellious stance, as evidenced by the Twitter trend stating, “I write in lowercase because I am anti-capitalist.” This could nod to how writers like Bell Hooks employed lowercase to “decentre” their writing, or to the university favourite, E. E. Cummings, or the Bauhaus artists who deemed the use of uppercase and lowercase as aesthetically “disharmonious.”
Aleksic posits a modern interpretation: “People might use lowercase to signal they aren’t an AI.” While AI can indeed write in lowercase, there is an inherent friction in needing to specify this. After all, reading an essay composed entirely in lowercase is no easy task.
Writer and self-proclaimed contrarian Sam Kriss finds beauty in the subtle contradictions of this practice: “Writing long paragraphs entirely in lowercase is the ultimate form of ‘respect’ I can show you,” he recently expressed on his Substack. He continues, “Reading my posts should feel like rubbing your