I went to visit our local cinema on Monday (there were three other people in the auditorium!) to watch Into The Wild, a great movie about the return to the Pre-lapsarian Life or Truth or/and many other things.

I noticed that the hero, Emile Hirsch, who was playing a college graduate with A-grades in all his subjects, wrote his diary in capital letters. Maybe that was just for cinematic reasons (it allowed myself and the three other ancients in the cinema to read the words on the screen), but I was wondering whether that was usual for a college graduate in these days.

(I also wondered how the old bus that he used as shelter actually got to such a remote part of Alaska. But one mustn't be picky!)

I have used block capitals, with large and small caps substituting for upper and lower case, since early in college, when I realized that I was losing points on written tests because professors couldn't read my longhand. I continue to use all caps in my law practice today. The benefits are significant--no one has ever had trouble reading my notes, and the slower pace of my writing (as compared to typing or longhand) lets me slow down my thinking a bit too. As a result, I find that my first draft needs fewer revisions, saving me time in the long run.

I'm not a recent graduate, but I had been writing with all caps (large and small sized) for many, many years. I also found my writing to be illegible and getting worse, and using all caps seemed to help. Maybe it was the lettershapes, maybe it was the fact that it was tough to 'run them together', or maybe because I only had to deal with 26 unique shapes and not 52.

Since I've picked up the FP habit (and particularly since I've discovered cursive italic nibs), I've reverted back to normal Uppercase/lowercase writing. Now I just take my time, and my writing is much more legible than ever.

That's interesting. I remember at school (a long time ago,now) having a History master who used capitals for the notes he used in class.

My longhand has always been clear and not being too bright a guy I have found that was a disadvantage because the examiner could see all my spullen miskakes. My grandfather always used to say he would try and find a pen that could correct your spelling, but he never did. (And while I am in confessional mode, I used to wish that someone could make hot ice-cream! [What on earth has that got to do with the above?])

I agree with entirely about the advantages in writing slowly: it allows the brain to catch up with the fingers.

Regarding the bus... when you mention being picky, are you saying that you wish that the story explained how the bus got there? I have read the book a few times, but I do not recall if Krakauer explains the history of the bus. I will look. If I recall, when Krakauer went to the bus with Alex's parents, they took a helicopter... but it was accessible by ground (didn't some guys on four-wheelers find his body?).

So I imagine that the bus was driven there.


It has been a few years since I read the book, but I will look to see if Krakauer specifies whether Alex wrote in CAPS. To answer your query, I do not think that all caps is particularly useful, although I do not mind it when done properly.

Back in the 1980's when I was in college, many of my classmates wrote their engineering notes and lab book entries in all caps. It had a very neat and orderly appeal for an engineering nerd. I varied between printing mixed upper/lower and all caps myself, and only re-learned cursive writing recently.

I've also been writing in upper and lower caps for as long as I can remember, since at least early high school - if not earlier. My writing was pure chicken scratch until I had mechanical drafting class, then I kept the lettering for myself because it was so much clearer than my own.

I remember having to sit down and talk with my teacher in fourth grade, because he had such a difficult time reading my (then-traditional) printing. I told him that I thought I could do a lot better if only I could write in all-caps.

Fast-forward a decade or so, and here I am - a recent college graduate whose been writing in capitals since then. For my own notes, I forego large- and small-caps, but I use them for in-class essays or finals that require I demonstrate proper use of capitalization (for example, distinguishing between Hegel's 'spirit' and 'Spirit').

Once, when I worked at a leadership camp, I sat on a council that selected a scholarship nominee. I remember that one high-school teacher moved to throw out one application because it was written in caps (large and small). I was aghast, and we got into a heated argument about adequacy (both in terms of legibility and the ability to distinguish 'capitalization' for proper nouns or whatever) and how it compares to propriety. I also just think it's silly to insist on the status quo when something else gets the job done just as well.

Thoughts?

I was alerted to this thread when badlin replied (I am subscribed to it). I have re-read the book since my above post and the origin of the bus is explained. The bus was brought there during the construction of a mining road. It was not driven, it was skidded behind a Caterpillar.

FWIW. Which is probably not much at this point!

When annotating drawings I used all Capitals & can write faster & probably with more legibility than normal handwriting

A teacher who would exclude a pupil on those grounds has no business teaching That is so entrenched & narrow minded ~ please feel free to pass this message onto him

I have dyslexia and I find anything written in block capitals very hard to read because I recognise the shapes of whole words and not individual letters. Block capitals have very little shape.

This may actually have had something to do with the fact that most drafting classes force you to learn how to "letter" in all caps, and it's only a stone's throw away from learning how to write in all caps from there. (That's how I learned to write all caps)

Thank you all those who have answered this thread.

I came across this today

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/06/bo...-into-wild.html

You see, FPN is always where the news is heard first

First, before getting a FP I for many years have also wrtten in large and small caps.

No offense to anyone, but in my case, I think it was mainly because when it came
to writing I was just lazy and it was easier.

(Like another poster, it may also have to do with the many hours spent lettering in
drafting class.)

The downside is that block writing has let my cursive writing deterioate and I am not
especially happy about that.

I've been somewhat inspired by many of the very nice penmanship examples I've seen
here on FPN.

I'm trying to write cursively whenever I use my FP and to use it more often. Hopefully
this will help get my cursive writing back into shape.

Bruce in Ocala, FL

Hey,
I was wondering if anyone knows what type of pen (or close to) that the character Chris uses in the movie Into the Wild.
Thanks Hannah.