WElCOME Back

Two years ago I posted this local find, CHIlES y CHOCOlATE, in my neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn. I took this photo long after, to demonstrate that the problem will not go away on its own. This one is even better — the i and L in CHIlES are equal in height, and the L in WElCOME seems to have a deliberate amount of space allocated for the uppercase L, yet it was written in lowercase.

CHIlES Y CHOCOlATE WElCOME SPECIAlS

OBAMA BAll

It's Inauguration Day 2009, and to kick off the dawn of a new era for our country, Nancy sent in this poster for the OBAMA BAll. It's not too confusing to read, but it is puzzling. Maybe this is the actual font structure? Nancy is right, it does look like OBAMA BA Eleven. Either way, hopefully there will be change for the better. Priority #1: Lowercase L awareness.

PlANTATION Hesitation

Visiting my niece, Lola, in Boynton Beach, Florida, we took her to The Girls Strawberry U-pick for some fresh hydroponically grown fruit. In what might be a case of limited word space, this PINEAPPlE PlANTATION sign with its crammed-in lowercase L's hung above the entrance to a section of the small farm, swinging eerily in the wind as ominous storm clouds rolled in. Little Lola was unaware of the sign and its foreboding message — at just two years old she's too young to understand. We steered clear of the pineapples and made a hasty exit after picking a few strawberries. One day Lola will learn about our country's embarrassing history with the PlANTATIONS of the south, but for now, ignorance is bliss.

UPDATE 1/21/09: Also reported this case of Apostrophe Abuse at the strawberry farm.

Dysgraphia Resources ONlINE

Finding lowercase L's used incorrectly amidst all uppercase letters may be a fun pastime, but in some cases the lowercase L may be a symptom of a neurological disorder called dysgraphia, "a neurological disorder characterized by writing disabilities. Specifically, the disorder causes a person's writing to be distorted or incorrect."

From the Wikipedia entry on dysgraphia:

Symptoms of dysgraphia

A mixture of upper/lower case letters, irregular letter sizes and shapes, unfinished letters, struggle to use writing as a communications tool, odd writing grip, many spelling mistakes (sometimes), pain when writing, decreased or increased speed of writing and copying, talks to self while writing, muscle spasms in the arm and shoulder (sometimes in the rest of the body), inability to flex (sometimes move) the arm (creating an L like shape), and general illegibility. Reluctance or refusal to complete writing tasks.

Pretty ironic, the "inability to flex (sometimes move) the arm (creating an L like shape)" symptom described above!

For more information about dysgraphia, visit the NINDS Dysgraphia Information Page at the website for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

BURl IVES

Image captured by Matt Garvey

In the spirit of the holiday season just passed I'm posting this Christmasy screen capture. Remember the old stop motion animated television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? Buddy Haskill pointed me toward this title card in the intro, "BURl IVES SINGS". You can watch the movie on YouTube, but do it quick before Google catches it and takes it down ... not because of the copyright issue, but because of the appalling use of a lowercase L in BURl's credit.

Qwest for L

A picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes a thousand words are worth a picture. Here's a woeful tale from Kristin, who understands my mission:

I took a photo of this whole thing that I forgot to bring to work, so I'll send it over later, but I wanted to share this story with you because it's so ridiculous. Qwest online has this new "privacy" feature wherein they send you a code through the mail and you have to enter the code once you receive it into the website. Well, I got my code and I tried putting it in. It didn't work. I retyped it, still nothing. So, I skipped through the message (you had a really long period of time to skip the message) since I figured my code was broken and that I'd get around to calling Qwest when it was necessary. Well last night at midnight I realized I had to pay my phone bill and suddenly I could not skip through the message. I pulled out my mailed code and typed it in. Nothing. I noticed that I could have them call me with the code so I did and the phone rang a couple minutes later. Here's basically what the code looked like:

6331l52D230

The font was serifed (similar to courier new) so it looked like D was the only letter (plus the D was in caps). Well, as the automatted phone message informed me, the second one was actually a LOWERCASE L. Because of the serifed font the only difference was the tip of the top serif was a somewhat (not very much) higher than on the one, but otherwise they were identical. Now, the code wasn't case sensitive so I have NO IDEA why they felt the need to include a lowercase L next to a one and in the same code as an uppercase D. Needless to say I am MIFFED and I am planning on sending Qwest a message about this whole thing.

Anyway, as soon as I realized what the issue was I thought of this blog, and that you might share my pain with this whole situation.

Cheers,
Kristin

I'd suggest calling Qwest, but the blue curlycue in the Qwest logo resembles a cursive lowercase L, so they probably wouldn't be able to help.

OVERSEAS CAll

Lowercase L contributor and world traveler, Jessica J, made this OVERSEAS CAll at a travel agency in Vietnam. The sign writer is not unfamiliar with the uppercase L, as in SALES, and had plenty of space to use uppercase L's, since he was able to squeeze in the misspelled FOREINGE EXCHANGE, which has more letters. Thankfully there is more than one way to buy a ticket to get away from that sign.