The lowercase L phenomenon is puzzling enough, but there is an even stranger subset of lowercase L behavior that magnifies the mystery. I call it the
Cascade Effect — this is when words are written in all uppercase letters, until the author hits an L and makes it lowercase, as well as all of the following letters in that word. In most lowercase L events, the writer then inexplicably switches back to uppercase letters immediately, but when the Cascade takes effect place, it's like there is no lowercase shutoff valve. Such is the case with CAlmly, above, submitted by Caitlin M.
Even this AMERICAN SOldIER had a momentary cascade, and then quickly recouped after letting the lowercase L and D trickle in.
I suspect that there is something about the L that triggers an instinct to start writing in lower case, and this cascade effect is more evidence of an invisible killer in the literary fields.
My buddy Berger Boy sent this to me a while ago, but I didn't post it because it doesn't quite fit the requirements for a perfect lowercase L sighting. But after giving it some more thought, I decided to share this one with you because of its uniqueness. Notice the nonsensical yet consistent styling of BElts, beginning with capitals B and E, and cascading down with lowercase "lts". I'm not sure what to make of this from both a stylistic and psychological standpoint. Did the auther suddenly forget that he was writing BELTS in uppercase letters? He obviously knows how to construct uppercase T's, as in "Table", and he can also do a nice lowercase "e" as with "Other". Is he tightening the BElts to fit into this sign? Maybe you can help solve this mystery.
