International Caps Lock Day: Why is it observed? Here is all you need to know

International Caps Lock Day is celebrated twice a year first on June 28 and second on October 22. This day was started by Derek Arnold, Software developer in Iowa to poke fun at 'typographical conventions'. But now this day is used to raise awareness that writing all caps is not proper etiquette.

A lot of us when sending a message don't realise that the Caps lock button is on. But once we realise it we immediately apologise for the same. But there are some who don't seem to think they have made a mistake, some even feel that they are making a point. This day is for such people, to remind them that it is not a way to communicate with people.

Obviously you have to use Caps in certain cases for example an important announcement or when you are using acronyms and shorthand.

History of International Caps Lock Day

In 2000 Arnold chose October 22 as the day when everyone should use the Caps Lock to only type in upper case letters. According to him, this day is a testament to the Western individuals who write in scripts which lack the concept of letter casing. He was tired of people that used all caps to make a point. He wanted to remind everyone that when someone is using upper case letters it looks like the person is shouting. This is because the people receiving the message can't see facial expressions or gauge the volume of the sender so it is easy to interpret that all caps means someone is angry and that is not nice.

In the olden days before computers and shift-lock, most typewriters only produced capital letters. It was only during the 1870s when the typewriter manufacturer Remington introduced keyboards with both upper and lowercase letters. They did that by placing two symbols or letters on each typebar which is the piece of metal that struck the letters onto the paper. They could switch between the symbols using a Shift key which moved the entire type bar apparatus.

Read more: Google Sheet keyboard shortcuts that you must know

This shift key that is now used on computers is called Caps Lock. Today, most of the keyboards have a light that informs you that the key is on. Some desktops even have the function that notifies you that the switch has been turned on.

Arnold added the second day which is on October 22 in honour of boardwalk-bred Billy Mays who had a booming voice that asked people to call and make purchases. When Mays passed aways in June 28, 2009 Arnold as a homage to him by adding a second day for celebrating International Caps Lock Day to the calendar.

How to celebrate International Caps Lock Day?

The best way to celebrate the International Caps Lock day is not to use the button. Or you can do the exact opposite and use CAPS LOCK all day and make people realise how it makes other people look.

If you want to celebrate this day just for fun or make a statement or just create awareness then you can change your social media profiles to an all caps version of your name.

You can also use this day to figure out how many acronyms you can use in a day and go with TTYL (Talk to you later).

Tips to use Caps Lock more effectively

1. Use caps lock sparingly and only when you need to emphasise or point something out.

2. Be sure to proofread any text or message before sending it. This will be more useful in a professional set up where using caps lock unnecessarily makes you look unprofessional.

3. Keep in mind that not many people enjoy reading an all-caps text so use it sparingly.

4. If you use caps lock oftenly and wish to change the habit then you can also check out websites that are only focused on disabling caps lock key on computers.

5. Try not to use all caps in personal messages unless you do want to show anger. But if that is the case you could also simply use emojis.

Published on: Friday, October 21, 2022, 07:05 PM IST