BlACKEND WIlD

Rabbi Matt Carl brings me out of retirement with this rare specimen discovered in Lowercase El Segundo, CA. In case you are counting, 1) BlACKENED 2) WIlD 3) BlKND 4) SAlMON 5) SAlSA 6) BlKND 7) All 8) COlESlAW. We may have a record here. #MOTHERlODE

BAlANCED DiET

Fellow ROI (that's Roi, not R-Zero-lowercase L) Community member Shai Davis pointed out these unbalanced words of wisdom on the popular 9GAG photo blog.  Does this count as a true example of lowercase L, Shai asks, even though the sentence contains only lowercase L's and lowercase i's, besides the other uppercase letters?  YES! Especially since those lowercase L's are in different words than the lowercase i's.

While it may be true that A BAlANCED DiET iS A GlASS OF WiNE iN EACH HAND, our disturbed scribe at (I think) Café ONS should also note that a balanced sentence contains appropriately capitalized L's and i's, especially when used in the context of all uppercase letters.  Perhaps our bibulous scribbler already had a glass of wine in each hand while writing this sign.

I think collaboration earns Shai an ROI Micro Grant!

SPRING FlING

"I loves me Olive Oyl!" you might hear Popeye say, just before he walks into this olive oil store in Wilson, NY. But he might march out to a different tune after seeing this SPRING FlING chalking.  Which is exactly what contributor Lilit Marcus did, her hands trembling with fear and rage. This also explains the blurry photo of an otherwise pristine example of lowercase L insanity.

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.

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.

Little MUSSElS

Brooklyn neighbor, Skooter, believes there may be a very meta lowercase L Conspiracy conspiracy, deeper than I ever would have imagined:

I saw this today at Double Windsor on Prospect Park West in Brooklyn. A few thoughts: didn't they notice the problem with "garlic," when there was the lowercase "l" next to the capital "I"? How come "SPECIALS" is capitalized correctly? Considering this is a literate bar with a nerdy/yuppie clientele in Brownstone Brooklyn, is it at all possible that they did this intentionally in order to bait "lowercase l"?

Skooter makes a good point. Most lowercase L offenders would get SPECIAlS wrong, but that is not the case here.  Instead we are treated to more subtle lowercase L errors as we read on, including MUSSElS, GARlIC (bonus for the lowercase L followed by the uppercase i!), Spicy HEIRlOOM Tomato, Beet SAlAD w/ ARUGUlA, OMElETTE ... a literal buffet of lowercase L's to chose from!  And, impressively, other than the lowercase L's, everything seems to be spelled correctly, even the more exotic words that could easily have been misspelled by even the most highly qualified waitstaff: ARUGUlA, pistachios, Parmesan, and Nueske bacon.

This may be the best example of lowercase L abuse yet.

COOl Down

Hot enough for ya'?

Here in NYC we've been having record-breaking summer scorchers exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  Our brothers in the City of Brotherly Love are no better off.  Cameron reports from the streets:

"The heat must've sapped the scribe's desire to write out the full letter. It's a hot day, but I'm not sure if to COOl DOWN with COlD H2O is what I'm after."

As an added bit of irony, besides the lowercase L in COOl looking like an i, even the O's are eyes!

What is the WORlD coming to?

This picture perfect post-apocalyptic scene wouldn't be complete without the ubiquitous lowercase L tag in THE NEW WORlD ORDER!  Photographed by Allison Elliot at the site of a burned down warehouse in Cleveland, Ohio, a place haunted by charred remains of wooden beams, like so many fallen lowercase L's.

And fellow blogger Berger Boy was worried to find the WORlD SERIES chalked up like this signage discovered in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

Finally, Mike shares,

[This] is a local landmark in Wichita Falls, Texas, that my father claims was spray-painted on a private building at a major-ish intersection in the late 70s or early 80s and has remained there since. It bears the worlds CHANGe THE WoRlD, and I think of your blog every time I see it. It's been there for as long as I can remember, and is very visible from the road.

Inspiring words, Mike.  But how can we change the WORlD when we still can't change upper and lower cases properly?

MIlKSHAKES

Adam Wells with the lowercase L's! Known for his photographic fabrications and more relevant receipts, the special effects wizard had this to say about his recent find:

This one's not cut and dry William, as there are a few offenders in there and a mish-mash of upper and lower. But I still find them guilty as charged...

MIlKSHaKeS
avaiLaBLe all aFTERNOON

The sign in question is located outside the overpriced yet thoroughly satisfying Greedies Cafe in Isleworth, West London. It may fall foul of your strict rules and regulations, but thought you should cast your eye across it.

Mazeltov on your engagement by the way, lovely news.

All the best,

Adam.

These milkshakes certainly would not bring me to the yard.

CHIllI

Iwan from Caernarfon reports to lowercaseL with this QUADRUPLE-l Tale of Wales:

Was having a pint on Saturday at one my favourite local pubs, Y Bachgen Du in Caernarfon (in north Wales), when I noticed their exciting new menu on the wall.

Had been drinking all day to celebrate Wales winnning the Triple Crown in the 6 Nations rugby tournament... so I took a snap to make sure they really were selling CHIllI (with steamed rice).

Wasn't brave enough to try any - I fancied a saiad myself, but as you can see they only did salads. Ended up having some chips. Very nice they were too.

Nice try, ye olde Tafarn, but the dotted uppercase i's don't help. I expect this sort of nonsense from CHIlE, but from WAlES? Seriously, you are tarnishing the reputation of the BlACK BOY INN.

BlEND

Lara K. returns with a new and astonishing lowercase L discovery at a Starbucks in Washington, DC, where the ANNiVERSARY BlEND reads almost good in Spanish, like bieno.

SAlAD

Gina C. from Savannah, GA, found the FRESH SAlMON SALAD and SHRIMP SAlAD to be quite special in TODAY'S SPECIAl'S, which also qualifies as an apostrophe catastrophe as well.  The name of the restaurant is Zunzi's, in case you want to avoid it.

Loss of PlATTER Control

So many choices! The lowercase L in PlATTER almost went unnoticed on the lower right corner of this menu board in front of Santorini Grill, a mediocre Greek restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  But, based on my previous experience with Greek restaurants, I knew I'd find the lowercase L offense eventually.

ClAM SAUCE

Lisa B. found this LOBSTER ClAM SAUCE at Moby Dick Restaurant on the wharf in Santa Barbara. Funny that the author almost lost it with the weak uppercase L in SALMON, fully recovered with LOBSTER, and then totally fell apart with the ClAM.

AMARYllIS

I thought this piney picture would be appropriate for the holiday season. Outside the Tarzian Hardware store on 7th Ave in Park Slope, you can get PAPERWHITES! Somewhat less enthusiastically, you can find AMARYllIS, too. It looks like this might be a letter crunching case, since double uppercase L's would have pushed the writing to the edge of the chalkboard. Bonus points for the tittle on the uppercase i.

CARlSBERG

LOOK! Peter W. explained how difficult it is to find lowercase L mistakes in his country, which is why this frothy CARlSBERG calamity discovered in St. Ives, Cambridgeshire in England was particularly rewarding.

FlAVORS of the month

Travis J. swears he didn't try any FlAVORS of the mini booze bottles located behind the counter at Mars' Cheese Castle in Kenosha, WI, presumably because of the improperly placed lowercase L. Though he was lenient enough to try the cheese, which, he says, was excellent.

Speaking of flavors, I spotted this flavored steamers dragon at a coffee shop in Brattleborough, VT a few months ago. While it isn't a case of lowercase L amidst uppercase letters, the L is still misleadingly small, like an i, I think.


So I'm breaking the rules and posting it here.

PIKE PlACE ROAST

Kerry M from Brookfield, Illinois (yes, the word Illinois may look like a bad batch of lowercase L's when written in a sans-serif font, but it's actually legit) spotted this caffeinated case in a local Starbucks Coffee. The PIKE PlACE ROAST may be medium and smooth, but the way it's written is rough and hard to swallow.

Related: Half Off SAlE

All BlACKS

Chris writes in from NZ:

I found this sign outside a bar in AUCKlAND, NEW ZEAlAND. Hopefully this is your first example of a Kiwi lowercase L!
The All BlACKS won, so we might not be able to write properly but at least we produce good rugby players. As it happens the Warriors won too. Unfortunately I've got no idea who Dean Te Paa is so I can't tell you whether or not he won.

Are you sure that isn't the Warrlors, Chris?

AlSO confusing

Andy writes in from Bear, Delaware:

When I first saw the lower case l blog I was impressed by the collection, but still had doubts about the common mis-usage of capitalization. Just a few days later, I found a perfect example on the Stewart's Brewing Company specials board. Needless to say, the lower case Ls ruined my meal.

The L's in All aren't all that bad, but the AlSO FOOD & DRINK SPECIALS reads like Audio Stream Input/Output food, something you might find on the menu at the Audio Engineering Society Convention.