Like camels, words can have heads and humps
Source: DALL·E 3 / OpenAI
Capital letters and capitalization are aspects of language that are virtually invisible—except when our expectations about their use are violated in some way. Then they become almost impossible to ignore.
Everyone is familiar with title case, in which the first word of a sentence is capitalized. And for book titles and newspaper headlines, it’s a standard practice to capitalize all words except for articles, conjunctions, and prepositions. But there are other possibilities as well, and these variations are employed—or avoided—for a variety of reasons.
The pioneers of the early internet, for example, developed informal conventions that would have a lasting impact on online communication. Known collectively as “netiquette,” many of these practices have endured to the present day. One tenet of netiquette is a prohibition against capitalizing an entire message, as this is perceived as SHOUTING at one’s recipient. (All caps is also associated with ransom notes and other threatening forms of communication.)
The prohibition against capitalizing all letters, however, is not observed by those who craft legal agreements. Important paragraphs in consumer contracts are frequently rendered in all caps, as in “THE FREE TRIAL CANNOT BE TERMINATED PRIOR TO THE END OF THE TRIAL.”
Research has shown, however, that this practice does nothing to aid in the understanding of such statements, and its use may significantly impair comprehension for older adults (Arbel & Toler, 2020).
Words With Humps?
On the other hand, the use of capitals in the middle of compound words, like NutraSweet or TikTok, has become extremely popular. This styling goes by a variety of names, such as medial capitals or embedded caps. An early article about the phenomenon in The New York Times simply referred to such terms as “squeezed-together words” (Barron, 1994).
Over time, however, “camel case” has emerged as the most common label for these constructions. And it’s not hard to see why—a capitalized word with another capitalized letter in its midsection is reminiscent of the head and the hump of the hardy desert creature.
Camel case has its origins in the world of computer programming and the conventions that arose for naming variables. Because spaces aren’t permitted in such strings, the use of medial capitals can make multi-word labels more intelligible.
Specifically, classes in Java programming use “upper” camel case—also known as PascalCase—in which the first letters of compounded words are capitalized (“ThisIsAnExample”). Variable names, on the other hand, are rendered in “lower” camel case, without capitalizing the first letter—as in “thisIsAnExample.”
One study found that novice software developers find it easier to comprehend identifiers styled in camel case instead of with underscores (this_is_an_example). There is little difference between two styles, however, for more experienced programmers, suggesting that greater domain knowledge plays a role in one’s ability to easily parse computer code (Binkley et al., 2011).
Capital Improvements?
Corporations have shown a marked predilection for camel case names, at least in part because they are perceived as stylish, sophisticated, or modern. Early examples of this trend are Consolidated Mills becoming ConAgra in 1971, and Master Charge transforming itself into MasterCard in 1979.
Federal Express followed suit, changing its name to FedEx in 1994. In part, this was done to conform with the nickname commonly used to refer to the delivery service—but the company chose to style its new name using camel case.
Today, there are a dizzying number of companies (eBay, HarperCollins, LinkedIn, UnitedHealthcare) and products or services (iPhone, PlayStation, PowerPoint, YouTube) that employ camel case in their names. And since they have the advantage of being unique, such terms can be more easily trademarked.
Over time, these humpbacked terms may get flattened out. The neighborhood that forms a Triangle Below Canal Street in New York City was initially written as “TriBeCa” but is now simply styled as “Tribeca.” Three humps in a word, it seems, may not be aesthetically pleasing. On the other hand, the lower Manhattan neighborhood that is South of Houston Street became SoHo, and SoHo it has remained.
uSiNg CaPiTaLiZaTiOn To MoCk
Alternating capitalization may be employed to achieve other kinds of effects. In the online world, it is referred to as “spongecase”—a nod to the internet meme known as “Mocking SpongeBob.” In a 2012 episode of the cartoon, the titular character is seen acting like a chicken whenever he hears the word “plaid.”
In spongecase, a message alternates between upper- and lowercase throughout, as in “fOuR sCoRe AnD sEvEn YeArS aGo.” The contorted text appears above an image of SpongeBob pecking at the ground like a chicken, and is typically intended to convey mockery or sarcasm.
And how about no capitalization at all? Some people refrain from capitalizing the first letters of their own names, such as the novelist bell hooks, poet e e cummings, singer k. d. lang, and scholar danah boyd. They may do so to avoid drawing attention to themselves—as was the case for hooks—although the practice tends to have the opposite effect, and seems to elicit attention instead (McGrady, 2021).
