AS I lAY DYING

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.

lIVE IN PEACE

There is a serious problem in the Middle East right now.  No, I'm not talking about the recent flareup of violence between Gaza and Israel.  I'm talking about the proliferation of lowercase L's in countries that do not  even use a Latin-derived alphabet system.  While young Yousef Abusabha of Palestine may be READY TO lIVE IN PEACE, I have my doubts this day will come soon, as long as lowercase L's inexplicably make their way into otherwise entirely uppercase sentences with CAPS LOCK ON.

I have a feeling Yousef is probably learning English at this school.

Thank you, lowercase L reader, GAl, for this exemplary find.

Little ITAlY

Found by Matt G. at an Italian restaurant in Cleveland, this lowercase L is truly baffling.  The IMPORTED ITAlIAN BEERS heading makes use of small caps for lowercase letters. You can tell because they are shorter than the uppercase first letter of each word.  That means the lowercase L in ITAlIAN was purposefully typed as an uppercase i!  Maybe it's the beer talking, but I find this beautiful.

Matt also points out that, while most brand names correctly begin with tall uppercase letters, some mysteriously start with small caps, the equivalent of a lowercase letter. Can you find them all?

REAl Estate

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.

Real lIVE Mermaid

Paul A. found this fishy ad for Real lIVE Mermaid swimming appearances AND entertainment! Looks like a case of delayed caps lock, which may be true of all ONlINE examples. At the time of writing this post — embarrassingly, more than six months after receiving Paul's wonderful tip — the website still boasts the lowercase L, so check it out lIVE. I wonder how long it will last now that the jig is up?

If you live in New York, don't forget about the Mermaid Parade on Coney Island, June 20, 2009.

WORlD of Warcraft

This may be one of the nerdiest examples of a misused lowercase L I've seen to date ... and that's coming from a guy who runs a blog about lowercase L's improperly used amidst all uppercase letters. Found by Eric R., he writes:

Okay, I realize this isn't an actual SIGN, but I thought it was funny when playing World of Warcraft that someone in dire need of assistance took the time to caps every letter, save the "L" (and the same day I had first come across your site, no less)

You're wrong about one thing, Eric. This is a sign. A sign of terrible things to come. God HElP us all.

MlS-leading

My brother-in-law Todd got in on the lowercase L action when he found this MlS-leading Multiple Listing Service website. Webmaster Alex Zapata got it right in the first MLS heading, and all the other MLS mentions throughout. But the L in the final "Find your desired property through the MlS" is just bad placement, and we all know the three most important things in real estate, right? lOCATION, lOCATION, and lOCATION.

ONlINE

With the popularity of Facebook apps like Graffiti, it's not surprising that lowercase L's are beginning to surface in our virtual social networks. Submitted by "Gez", this simulated spray painted message to a ClASSY BITCH of a friend is doubly insulting with the neglectful lowercase L.

Similarly, here is a nice Craigslist personal ad for men seeking men in Portland, submitted by Johnny J.:

How can you trust people you meet online, especially if they exhibit carelessness in their usage of lowercase L's?

Kids lOVE Myspace

You are all probably familiar with Myspace, the online social network that is becoming increasingly popular with young teens and adults alike. You may have even found this blog from a link on my Myspace account. Since lowercase L's are usually the product of handwriting, it was a special treat to find not one, but two cases in Myspace! The first one, above, is a letter from a fan of my Shabot 6000 cartoons. His lOVE for Shabot is eclipsed only by his grasp of how to use the caps lock key properly.

Then there's this cute gal, purportedly from Yugoslavia, who proudly displays her Myspace name as AlEXANDRA. I don't know who she is, but I will forgive her use of lowercase L because she's probably using one of those complicated Yugoslavian keyboards. AlEXANDRA, if you are out there, I invite you to state your case here.

Found on CRAIGSlIST

Most lowercase L's posted on this site are found in the real world, on the streets, in windows, handwritten on paper. That's why this virtual case of lowercase L, found on Craigslist, is especially unique. In addition to "saple" sounds, this fellow is apparently lOOKING TO BUY time by rushing through his Craigslist ad and posting without proofreading. My guess is that he forgot to press the caps lock key until after he had already typed the L. Too late, I'm not selling my saple zip disks to this freak.