When did people decide that all caps means the writer is shouting?

Question

Nowadays, writing in all caps tends to indicate that the writer is shouting.

FOR EXAMPLE IF I TYPE LIKE THIS PEOPLE EQUATE THIS TO SHOUTING.

My understanding from cursory googling is that letters were originally only in one case and a separate case was developed later, with most people considering the first case to be capitalized and the second, newer case to be lowercase. Newspaper headlines and advertisements sometimes lapsed into all caps, but I can't find any indication that the all caps typography was meant to be interpreted as literally shouting the headline at people.

When did people start making the distinction that using the default capitalized letters means the writer is shouting (assuming this practice is old enough that "default" has any meaning)?

Answer 1

SOMETIME AFTER 1984

BICAMERAL SCRIPT HAS BEEN AROUND FOR CENTURIES THOUGH THE RULES FOR ITS USE HAVE ONLY SOLIDIFIED IN THE LAST FEW HUNDRED YEARS. WHILE PRINTED MATERIAL WAS ABLE TO USE BOTH UPPER AND LOWER CASE, THE NEED FOR EFFICIENCY IN TELEGRAPH COMMUNICATIONS MEANT THERE WAS AN ERA WHEN ALL ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION WAS IN ALL-CAPS FROM THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY TO THE EARLY 1980S.

EARLY COMPUTERS WERE NOT ABLE TO DISPLAY LOWER CASE, OR DID NOT BY DEFAULT. WHEN PERSONAL COMPUTERS CAME ALONG, AND SCREEN RESOLUTIONS WERE HIGH ENOUGH, THEIR BROADER USE CREATED A NEED FOR LOWER CASE. THIS WOULD BE SOLIDIFIED WHEN CHARACTER SET STANDARDS SUCH AS ASCII AND LATIN-1 WERE WIDELY ADOPTED FOR LATIN SCRIPTS.

NEW REPUBLIC PUBLISHED AN ARTICLE HOW CAPITAL LETTERS BECAME INTERNET CODE FOR YELLING WHICH CONTAINS MANY REFERENCES TO POSSIBILITIES, BUT NO DEFINITIVE ANSWER. IT NOTES THAT ALL-CAPS HAS BEEN USED BACK INTO ANTIQUITY FOR EMPHASIS, BUT THERE IS NO CONSENSUS FOR WHEN IT BECAME WIDELY UNDERSTOOD TO BE YELLING, AND IN PARTICULAR VULGAR SHOUTING.

WE CAN PUT SOME BOUNDARIES ON THE DATE. THIS THREAD FROM USENET BACK IN 1984 PEOPLE ARE STILL DEBATING HOW BEST TO ADD EMPHASIS TO TEXT. THAT THIS DISCUSSION WAS HAPPENING INDICATES THE MATTER WAS STILL NOT SETTLED. VARIOUS THINGS ARE SUGGESTED INCLUDING...

• ALL-CAPS
• *ASTERISKS*
• S P A C I N G
• SwItChInG cAsE (WHICH I REMEMBER AS A MaD hAxOr THING)

T H A T   T H R E A D   I S   A M A Z I N G, *I'D SUGGEST YOU READ IT*

Answer 2

The tradition of all caps denoting shouting arose from typesetting of printed publications.

The 6 September 1958 Bookseller: The Organ of the Book Trade says:

It [a 16 page list of books] picks out titles in red, and speaks moderately with large-size upper and lower-case letters rather than shouting with all caps. The effect is pleasing to anybody in a contemplative mood.

And more than a century before that, in "The Dutchman Who Had the Small Pox" in the 17 April 1856 Yorkville [South Carolina] Enquirer and many other newspapers:

This time he shouted it out in capital letters

Likewise, "The Sore Grievance of John Wellspanked" in 6 May 1871 The Shamrock says:

"TWELVE shillings and SEVEN pence?" roared my aunt in the biggest capital letters

Similarly, "Imaginary London" in the June 1873 Belgravia says:

'...Here, cab, cab, CAB!' The last monosyllable was a yell to which only capital letters can give due impression

Even more clearly, the 1880 The Standard speaker and elocutionist has a section of the book titled:

SHOUTING STYLE

This will be seldom needed throughout an entire piece, but wherever the words imply calling, or commanding, it will be in keeping with the words to employ it. As examples note the following selections marked in CAPITAL letters as the appropriate place for shouting emphasis.

The 1880 book then goes on for pages with examples from literature of all caps being used for shouting.

However, the earliest indication of a standard that I have found so far is from the 1852 Singing for Schools and Congregations: A Grammar of Vocal Music:

It is proposed that-
CAPITAL LETTERS, in printing, or double lines under the word in writing, should distinguish words to be sung louder

Another clear example is from the 1860 Elementary books for Catholic schools, explaining how to read stories with italics and all caps:

when you come to a word printed in this way [italics], you must read it more distinctly than the other words.

...And began to scream out as loud as he could,| "HELP!HELP!HELP!"

Observe these last three words: they are printed in capital letters letters because they are very important. The man cried, "help!" very loudly.

Answer 3

In the computer world, the use of ALL CAPS to mean yelling or shouting goes back to the days of Bulletin board system (BBS). The use seems to go back to at least 1984, and was one of three ways of emphasising text that had developed at that point

(things like bold or italic weren't available as options for text emphasis in those days).

• CAPITAL LETTERS made text look "louder" (a.k.a. "shouting" or "yelling", depending on which side of the Atlantic you were from)
• Using *asterisks* as sparklers to emphasise words.
• S p a c i n g words out.

Answer 4

There's a comment at https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21msg/net.flame/VbghoeOfwyI/E2mClWj2GV8J :

Capitalizing whole words gives the impression that you're shouting.

So the usage was already current in 1984.

Also, the mixed case suggestion isn't serious

http://cs.gmu.edu/~offutt/documents/advice/hints-net-write.html

Answer 5

It is human nature to equate larger than normal characters with volume. It is also human nature to equate an exclamation point with shouting, just as it is human nature to equate a question mark with confusion. Whether it is a tweet, or whether it is a passage in an old book, the association is the same. This is true? This is true! THIS IS TRUE!!!! (see what I mean?)

Therefore, the association of all caps with shouting began with mixed case alphabets. It became prevalent with computers, as the need to go through editors and publishers to get one's written word out to the public was eliminated, and thus the safeguards for proper diction were also eliminated.