Styles of writing that annoy us

Glossary:

• block capitals - text in which all the letters are CAPITALS. Also known as "caps", capitals, capitalised or ALL CAPS
• Human Resources - the department in a company that is in charge of employees/staff
• confrontational - aggressive; likely to cause an argument
• upsetting - making smb. sad or angry
• unfair - not just, not correct
• a dismissal - if there is a "dismissal", someone loses his/her job
• ultimately - in the end, eventually, at last
• the caps key - the button on the computer keyboard that you press when you want to write in CAPITALS

Do you use block capitals a lot in e-mails? If you do, be careful, or you could lose your job... just as Liz Jones did. 

Ms Jones from New Zealand used to work in the Human Resources department of a large company. Just recently, she lost her job. Her employers claim that her e-mails, which were often full of BLOCK CAPITALS, were “confrontational”. They also said the e-mails were upsetting staff.

During the trial for unfair dismissal, extracts from the e-mails were read out. They included the following:

“TO ENSURE YOUR STAFF CLAIM IS PROCESSED AND PAID, PLEASE FOLLOW THE CHECKLIST BELOW.” Some of the e-mails also had phrases in bold or red. But, are capital letters really so offensive? Some people think so. 

“Many people use capitals to demonstrate their anger,” explained Nigella Marston, a writing expert. 

“Ultimately, it is a way of shouting. Anyone who has ever received an e-mail full of capitals may understand the problem.”

So, what should you do if you’re angry and you need to send an e-mail? 

“The thing with e-mails is that they’re so easy to write and send,” Ms Marston explained. “In the past, with letters, you had to find a piece of paper, get a pen and carefully write your letter. If you made a mistake, you had to start all over again. And then there was the problem of finding an envelope, buying a stamp and then going to post it. It all took time. My advice is to write the e-mail in a Word document (not in an actual e-mail – just in case you send it by mistake), and then to leave it. 

The following day, you can read over it and decide whether it really is a good idea to send it.” So, the next time you’re angry, DON’T JUST HIT THE CAPS KEY and send. Stop and think! And then send.