Tuesday, December 25, 2012

PlUSH RUGS

How about some PlUSH RUGS from True Value Hardware to ring in the New Year?  From Jamie in Hollister, CA.

Monday, December 10, 2012

PlZ

The Pedantic Nerd submits this trash topping message, "DO NOT PUT RUBBISH IN THIS BIN!!! PlZ".  It seems people are following instructions, otherwise the notice itself with it's inexplicable use of a lowercase L in the phonetically abbreviated PlEASE would be in the bin.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

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.

Sunday, November 04, 2012

I'm Looking Over a Lowercase ClOVER

Spinning Girl returns, with an explanation:
It's been a while since I have submitted an "l", though I do keep my eyes open. Sometimes slamming on the brakes is just too dangerous... But for this one I was in a slow-moving line at Starbucks in Darien, CT. They have some new brewing system that they keep pushing, called Clover. Luckily the hand written told me to "see over" (Get it? ClOVER?)... And I could indeed see the machine when I looked over the counter. It just looked like a single-batch brewing machine of some kind, nothing to cheer about. Their sign, however, made me turn cartwheels of GlEE.
Look closely at the paper notice below the ClOVER.  They're hiring: someone new to handwrite the chalkboard menus.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

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?

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Thursday, October 18, 2012

FlAT FIX

Skooter submits this FlAT FIX photo, taken at the corner of 4th Ave and Prospect Ave here in Brooklyn, and asks the obvious question: do they only fix Italian cars?  Besides the obvious hand painted FlAT FIX on the metal gate, the awning above has both a prominent, correctly typed FLAT FIX, and a subversive, tucked away FlAT FIX on the side.  Very meta that someone needs to fix the FlAT FIX sign.

Friday, October 05, 2012

OpenDYSlEXIC

Following close in the tracks of the Open Source monospaced font, which will help readers differentiate between l's, I's, and 1s, a new OpenDyslexic font has been developed for dyslexic readers.  The letters are all "weighted" at the bottom, giving them gravity to help dyslexic readers from rotating or flipping them in their minds.  Look at the lowercase L ... it has a little foot!  Perhaps this will help not only the dyslexic but the dysgraphic as well.

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Big Bird, little L

Tonight, in the 2012 Presidential Debate, Mitt Romney restated his intent to cut federal funding to public radio and television.  Within minutes, the Twitterverse was atwitter with an unemployed Big Bird, featuring images in which he sadly holds a hand written cardboard sign, "WIll WORK FOR FOOD." In Big Bird's defense, the uppercase i in WIll is serifed, adequately differentiating it from the following lowercase L's.  Still, #BigBird should know better. It's not like his funding has been cut yet.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Sukkah City FIlM

Brooklyn documentary filmmaker and friend, Jason Hutt, announces, in a timely fashion, Sukkah City, his behind the scenes film about the architecture competition of the same name, in which artists re-imagined the sukkah archetype, and the 12 winning structures were displayed in Union Square in New York City.  Pictured above is one of the winning structures.  Look closely at the white sign above and to the left of the black hatted sukkah goer. "Out of GAS Need HElP" is just one of the many pleas for gas, and HElP, featured in this collage of cardboard calling cards.  Look for Hutt's film in spring 2013.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Open Source GlYPHS

As reported on BoingBoing, today Adobe announced the release of Source Sans Pro, a new set of Open Source monospaced fonts for coders. The font will be especially useful for us folks who get confused between I, 1, and l.  Since you're probably not using Source Sans Pro to view this page, I'll translate those confusing characters: uppercase i, the number one, and a lowercase L.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

ISlAM

Look, my friends, even this guy put some effort into correcting an obviously former lowercase L by squeezing a little uppercase action into ISlAM.  If he can do it, despite his Engrish, and in the wake of an attack on the US Embassy in Libya, there's no excuse why we can't, too.

FAllEN PRiNCESS

Brendan M. forwarded this provocative Flickr photo, a depiction of cocaine on a mirror, ready to be snorted by a FAllEN PRiNCESS through a rolled up bill.  While the coke is apparently just a little Sweet 'n Low, the double lowercase L's in FAllEN have soured my appreciation for this particular artwork.  But if the uppercase extension of the L's were intentional—perhaps as was part of a formerly uppercase i in PRiNCESS—in a monogrammatic tribute to the artist's muse, Lindsay Lohan, I'd say that was pretty creative.

Friday, August 24, 2012

MAlYA

No, it's not the 3D animation software.  That MAlYA is my wife, MALYA!  I cannot reveal who "Mollie A", but, as a friend, she should know better than to leave this kind of evidence lying around.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

BIG BOTTlE SPECIAL

GnatBean explains:
Was out at the bar in Baltimore's inner harbor when I saw this. The lower case L makes me laugh but the apostrophe makes me weep for the decline of modern education. Noticing all the upper case Ls also included but the writer's dedication to the L in bottle just makes me scratch my head.
 Indeed, this is a very BIG BOTTlE SPECIAL case.  But it wouldn't be the first.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Don't Let Me ClOG

My wife, Malya, warned our guests, "Now that you know about the lowercase L phenomenon, you'll see them everywhere."  That was 24 hours ago.  Shortly after our friends parted company, bellies full of mead, the good Rabbi Matt Carl posted this passive-aggressive note on my Facebook Timeline.  At first I was unimpressed, because the obvious lowercase L's were not offensive in the purest form, as PleASe also contained adjacent lowercase e's.  But Rabbi Carl called attention to the toilet's green speech bubble in the lower left corner. "Don't let me ClOG" he says, with a smile.  Well played, Rabbi, well played.

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

BlUSH

Dave found this on PostSecret.com.  The author claims, "I BlUSH very easily. It makes me feel so ASHAMED." We know something else that should make him feel ashamed.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

BEAUTIFUl PEOPlE

Marilyn Manson would be proud of this young man, found by MacMan, rallying THE BEAUTIFUl PEOPlE to action on Facebook.  His first lowercase L seems to be a result of poor planning.  But the second lowercase L in PEOPlE is just inexcusable, unless the kid was just trying to be consistent, in which case there is, at least, some method to the madness.  Incidentally, his skin condition is known as VITIlIGO.

Saturday, May 05, 2012

I WIll CAll THE COPS

According to Metropolitan Cartography's description on their Flickr photostream, this blunt warning was posted here here in Brooklyn, on Montrose Ave between Graham Ave and Humboldt St.  I actually found these photos separately in a Google search while researching the text "IF I CATCH YOU PUTTING THE DOG HERE TO TAKE A SHIT I WIll CAll THE COPS", from the first photo, but I'm assuming both signs authored by the same vigilante.

It looks like the white sign above was probably an attempt to improve the brown sign on the left with a dash of color.  However, poor planning with overly liberal letter kerning on "SHIT I" resulted in a bad case of the Squeeze with "WIlLCAllTHE".  Some things that make this sign special are the unnecessarily dotted uppercase i's, and an extremely rare sequence of uppercase and lowercase L's in the same word.  This combination has only happened once before in the history of lowercase L's.

I took a virtual walk on Google Maps Street View to see if I could find the sign, but no luck.  Let me know if you see it in real life, maybe interview the SUPER 250F?

Sunday, April 29, 2012

UlTIMATE Catch of the Day

It took me a while to find the lowercase L in this photo.  This ad for a HealthGuard mattress may offer THE UlTIMATE PROTECTION AGAINST DUSTMITES, MICROBES & ALLERGIES, but it apparently does not offer one lick of protection against lowercase L infestation. Thanks to Gary C. for this fantastic Catch of the Day!

Friday, March 02, 2012

Belinda CARlISlE

“Ooh, baby do you know what that's worth?
Ooh, Heaven is a PlACE ON EARTH.” — Belinda Carlisle

Found on local blog FIPS.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

KNUCKlE BONES


Another from John, a sweet sale on KNUCKlE BONES at a pet shop in Grand Haven, MI!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

BlONDE ROAST

John returns to lowercase L with a BlONDE Roast you can buy at Starbucks in Holland, MI.  The BlO prefix reads like the coffee is either organic or very strong.