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.

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.

Swine FlU

SWINE FlU GONE TOO FAR, indeed!  Dylan C. from Cairo, NY explained that this was a 12th grader's class assignment.  Looks like swine flu is beginning to take a toll on lowercase L judgment ... and education.

This is not the first case of FlU we've caught here.

Cafetorium ClOSED

Dashon B. speaks of this find:

This gem was found in Northhampton, MA, and even though there are many ClOSED signs floating around, this one is unique, as they caught them young (it's at an elementary school), and the word Cafetorium is completely awesome also.

I have to admit, I thought this CAFETORIUM was a bastardized spelling of CAFETERIA, until I read that it is actually a room doubling as both a cafeteria and an auditorium. Though, based on the ClOSED sign below, it could actually read CAFETORLUM, and we'd never know.

MALI WORlD

Ashley says of her find:

I recently participated in a Model United Nations conference. The delegation sitting in front of mine, while not very attentive parliamentarians, were very entertaining. This is what one of them did with their placard. Mali-Worid?

See related:
MAll TRAGEDY
In a WORlD

FlAME War

Sofar likes to eat at a little restaurant called FlAME in Seattle. I'm assuming he goes for the burgers, and not the consistent use of uppercase L's, judging from these photos he took at the joint, which he describes as "one of those put-customers'-drawings-on-the-wall-type places."

Sofar softens the blow:

This one looks as though it was done by a kid, which makes it excusable, but I included it anyway because of the juxtaposition of the lowercase L and the uppercase I with serifs. Also I think it's funny when people start writing something on a sign and misjudge how much space they'll need.

I beg to differ, Sofar. It isn't excusable when kids do it, and it isn't funny.

BlESS THIS HOUSE

Gary found this photo of the Fitzroy Adventure Playground, Atherton Gardens Estate, taken in Australia by Mario Cotela in 1980. Written on a scrap of aluminum siding, BlESS THIS HOUSE might not do the trick, considering its apparent state of dilapidation, and the safety risk it might pose to children. Still, I wonder why the author chose to indent the word BlESS. If he hadn't, he probably could have fit the uppercase L in there.

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.

ART FOlDER

The Joshmeister found this lowercase L in Southern California. The celestial misalignment of stars that formed this art constellation seems to be the cause of the improperly used lowercase L on the ART FOlDER.

Back to SCHOOl

Possibly my favorite find to date, this SCHOOl X-ING on-road signage can be seen painted on Underhill Ave. by Bergen Street in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. I think this is probably the result of a parked car blocking the path of the street painter, and the painter just never got around to returning to the scene of the crime to finish the job, figuring a lowercase L was better than no L. But confusion could arise if one were to mistake the first uppercase i in X-ING as another lowercase L ... so if it's X-LNG, does it then read as EXCELLING SCHOOL? ...

BOOM! You just hit a kid crossing the street because you were confused by the lowercase L.

Marring MARYlAND

Submitted by Spinning Girl:

While not a hand-written sign, I just had to send you this! 8th grade students at my school had to do posters on an assigned state. Why would they make every latter capital, except for the L?!?!? Although I know that these cutout letter kits come with two L's in them, and maybe they already used them up on a poster about Illinois.

SG, if you can, try to find out if the kids did run out of uppercase L's before they could assemble MARYlAND. If they did have enough L's and simply chose to use the lowercase, we can assuredly blame the American education system.