Spotted by friend and graphic designer Carol King, who has a keen eye for detail, you really couldn't ask for a better example of a lowercase L than this BAGEl in NYC. This menu board outside of Maidre on 7th Ave in South Slope, Brooklyn also boasts pastries from BAlTHAZAR Bakery. Bonus points for this find, because the flipside of the menu board (click photo on left) features the same message, but with no improperly placed lowercase L's! Makes you wonder if the author who wrote the first side of the menu was fired and quickly replaced by a new employee who wrote the flipside. Also makes me leery about eating the bagels and pastries here.
Our first and SOlAMENTE Spanish submission! Not only are we treated to a lowercase L, but my eyes are also drawn to the L ANORMALES!, perhaps a vain attempt to compensate for the L deficiency at the beginning of the sign. Yes, the lowercase L is slightly taller than its capitalized counterparts, so it isn't as confusing as it could have been. But we'll let this one slide through the border for originality.
A while back, friend and fellow blogger PD Berger posted Lowercase L Goes Psycho, following an interview about dysgraphia with Research Fellow in Neuropsychology, Bart D. Brigidi, Ph.D.[..] The 'artist' is clearly not a consistent lowercase "l" offender, 'MAPLE SYRUP' escapes.
Secondly, and more notably, unlike other examples displayed on the site, the "l" has not been squeezed in to its designated space; there is ample room left which suggests to me that the horizontal has been painted out in an attempt to join the dysgraphia gang - or simply undermine the important and relevant research of Mr Levin.
My main concern however, surrounds the fact that of all the important issues raised by EINY, this one has caused my lengthiest and hard-thought response. BOllOCKS.
Adam also included the three photos in this post, click them to see larger versions. I was amazed at the quality of these lowercase L sightings. "ClOSED" looks real enough, but the other two made me suspicious. I asked Adam about it, and he replied: 
"Unfortunately, you should be suspicious of them all. To back up my suspicions about the 'maple syrup' image on your site, I thought I'd illustrate a few forgeries for myself. Still on the lookout for genuine ones though, in an effort to oust these despicable people!"
Hidden deep in the shadows of a small, dark server closet at a new client's office, I found this short and sweet lowercase L on a box containing an OlD UPS battery. I'm glad they didn't follow the instructions to Dispose of the evidence, as was suggested on the box top, because this hidden treasure is now the second OlD case on file.
Visiting the family for the holiday weekend in my sleepy hometown of Vineland, NJ, lowercase L's were the last thing on my mind, especially after a belly full of Thanksgiving turkey and more in-laws' kids than you could shake a stick at (legally). But once the l-Tryptophan wore off, I joined my sister and mom at the local fitness center. Looks like I can't escape the lowercase L phenomenon, even on holiday. This whiteboard fitness class calendar is in a class all to itself. Notice the two occurrences of SCUlPT, with a normal SCULPT in between. Did the class planner realize his mistake in November 3, correct it in November 10, but go back to his old ways for November 17? I suppose this could be another example of squeezing the L to save space, but the beauty of whiteboard is that you can easily correct your mistakes.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wish to thank the Donut Shop on 7th Ave here in Park Slope, Brooklyn, for giving me this perfect example of improper lowercase L usage. Strangely enough, this is the second time we've seen a lowercase L used when spelling APPlES. Perhaps the word "apple" reminds the writer of apple pies, so he subconsiously changes the L to look like an i in PIE. Or maybe he's thinking of "apple of my eye", which sounds like "apple of my i". Or maybe the guy just had too much of the "sweet pot".The lowercase "l" is an interesting occurrence and maybe not as understudied as one would think. From a neuropsychological perspective, errors in writing fall under the umbrella term of dysgraphia, which means that somene has a writing disability or disorder -using the Latin dys which means "a difficulty with" and graphia which means the act of writing. Dysgraphia is not uncommon for individuals with aphasia or childhood learning disorders. It usually refers to inconsistencies in letters, irregular letter sizes and shapes, mixing case or cursive with print, and incomplete or unfinished letters. This type of deficit must be out of sync with the person's intelligence level and rarely occur in isolation outside of other learning impairments such as dyslexia. Very important is that dysgraphia must be differentiated from laziness, too.
Yes. The why. I knew that was coming. Recent thought about the "why" of switching case has pointed to the potential role of faulty inhibitory mechanisms in the brain. For the lowercase "l" phenomenon, this would mean that someone was unable to inhibit the intrusion (unwanted thought) that a lowecase "l" was correct. Then after writing this error, it becomes an issue of awareness followed by the issue of what to do with the error if it is noticed. Given awareness and why someone would not change the error, who knows, I would guess time contraints, laziness, "good enough" mentality, not having an eraser, or some combination of all these would factor in to why the error is not changed. Aphasic patients can have interesting dissocations in the neural circuits governing writing and speaking, so that is a population that has traditionally been studied with respect to this phenomenon.
How often does this happen is a good question. Short answer is I am not sure. And I am not sure its prevalence is known. However, it is thought to occur at least as often as reading disorders, which would mean that dysgraphia, in all its forms, occurs in approximatley 4% of the population. This is a low baserate phenomenon,and the percentage of people specifically exhibting the lowercase "l" phenomena is likley much lower. As far as I know, gender biases have not been specifically studied for errors in caseness. But there is data that shows that learning disorders in general occur in boys two to four times as much as in girls.
I knew you would ask me this, too. Treatment for the lowercase "l" phenomenon would likely first assume that this is a problem that somebody feels causes some impairment in their social, occupational, or academic functioning. The frequency and impact of the switching are also key. If I leave a sticky for a co-worker that says "See you at the meeting Later," there is probably little harm done. However, if I gave a presentation with repeated "l" mistakes or I was completing a job application, then there might be more consequences.
There are treatments available for dysgraphia and dyslexia. Those individuals with known or suspected language problems should meet with a professional trained to treat these problems, such as a reading specialist, speech and langage pathologist, or neuropsychologist.
Bart D. Brigidi, Ph.D.
Research Fellow in Neuropsychology
The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke
Duke University Medical Center
After a lowercase L dry spell which left me doubting my own conspiracy theory, I finally return with fresh evidence, proof that an epidemic more eminent than the Avian Flu is upon us. Only this latest find is bittersweet victory. My client, DDC Lab, makers of the coolest jeans on the planet, are a team of wonderfully creative and admirable people. They run a highly effective business which has flourished in the years I've worked with them. After nearly eight years of loyal patronage, they are more than just a client, they are my friends. This is why I was baffled upon discovering their grisly BlACK LABEL bin. I am certain that no DDC staff member would have committed this offense, so it seems they have a mole in their midst.
