Capitalization is like italicization or "like" quotation-encapsulation, it is a method of subtly changing the meaning of a word to suggest a different, a "bigger", an "important" form of it's use to then subtly change the meaning of the entire sentence.
This form of writing is known to obfuscate a sentence, and is intentionally used to hide or confuse a sentence. Similar to varying intonations with speech, a sentence constructed with subtle tools such as capitalization can mean distinct things to different readers. In this sense, capitalization can be seen as being Dangerous.
Examples ∞
God
- Not "oh god, today sucked", but "Oh Lord, thou art ten pounds of Holy in a Five-Pound-Bag."-God
- Not "bad doggie, no biscuit!", but more towards being "Evil"-Bad.
- Not "that's a good way of doing that", but "this is the Right and Just way to do that"
- Not chatting up a gal to get her phone number, but chatting up a gal to get her friend's number.
Usage ∞
Often, such emphasized terms will be found in notably brief sentences with abrupt punctuation. This may be seen as the writer directing focus and resolution to the sentence. In speech, one might imagine the speaker crossing their arms and straightening their posture to say things such as:
- Violence is Bad.
God is Opinion.
Furthermore, capitalization can be used to render a topic nearly unarguable. There are cases where a capitalized word is meant to mean the whole sum of it's topic. An example would be:
Plato didn't Get what Socrates Believed.
Cases such as these could use capitalization instead of quotations to subtly effect the ideas contained in the sentence. It is difficult to directly explain this concept, but native English readers will see subtleties with these minor variations:
Plato didn't "get" what Socrates Believed.
Topics with capitalization ∞
- Bad Thing
- Enlightenment (sometimes)
