ClOSED CAPTIONING

Jacky explains:

Tonight while watching the most recent episode of Smash ("The Tonys") on IMDb through Hulu, I spotted the strangest lowercase L. I have some hearing problems so I watch most shows with closed captioning, and there it was my first lowercase L, in the abbreviation for Los Angeles (or l.A.).

My guess is that some intern is typing these captions in real time, hit that shift key a split second too late. Or he's actually heading to Iowa.

The VIGIlANTE

Who is responsible for correcting typos and grammar on placards in the sculpture garden of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn? I swear, it wasn't me. But I like his style.

OlD BulB

Found in my father-in-law's basement, an OlD BulB went off, reminding me that misusing a lowercase L when storing junk in the closet is not an unheard of phenomenon.  Also noticed the single correctly capitalized OLD Bulb in the lower left corner, and wondered if that bulb burned out on a different day.

Thanks for the photo, Moshe Kurzweil!

Futurama is CANCElED

My favorite cartoon on the TeeVee, Futurama, has been canceled, again.  But our lovable hero, Fry, will live on forever in our hearts, in reruns, and as the squinty-eyed doubter in the Not Sure If X meme.

Thanks for the lead, Gary!

Other variations can be found on QuickMeme.

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.

THE SAlAD PlACE

Last time, on lowercaseL, an "unknown" commenter offered this tempting teaser:

Go onto Google Maps and check out the corner of Persia and London in San Francisco's Excelsior district. There's a place called THE SAlAD PlACE, whose name appears thusly on a large hand-painted mural. The l's are a carrot and a celery stalk, but methinks that cutesy conceit would have worked far better had they made the other non-initial letters lowercase, too.

So I followed up, and using the free 21st century spying software, I was able to find the offending sign in just a few seconds. Thank you, UNKNOWN lOWERCASE L SOlDIER.

Purim SPIEl

In celebration of the Jewish holiday, Purim, Rabbi Matt brought a gragger to shul that he bought from a street vendor in PUERTO VAllARTA, Mexico years ago. Today, for the first time, he noticed a particular deficiency in the uppercase L department.  We cannot be silent when it comes to lowercase L misuse, it's time to make some noise about this important issue!

And Happy Purim!

PlUSH RUGS

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

Graphograph

Example: lOWERCASE

From Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

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.