Only those in unassailable positions of power would ditch capital letters – or reply to colleagues with a thumbs up emoji
i recently learned that, in february, jack dorsey – formerly of twitter, now of block – wrote a 600-word email announcing a mass layoff (4,000 employees) all in, you guessed it, lowercase.
This was the jumping-off point for an investigation into the tech broligarchy’s “new language of power” by journalist Zak Jason for Business Insider. Jason conducted his own no-caps experiment, recklessly deploying lowercase in messages to his boss, colleagues, fellow parents and “every outreach to sources for this story – biz etiquette experts, comms gurus, & sam altman”. He agonised less and responded quicker, he concluded, but lost clarity.
Lowercase has its place (Instagram stories about my hens, for example), but it’s hard to imagine adopting it in work communications. Risking being perceived as ultra laid-back, even sloppy, seems like the kind of privilege only those in unassailable positions of power can really enjoy. Isn’t it, also, a little affected? Having laboriously uncapitalised all the autocorrected capitals in that first sentence, I’d argue lowercase gives an illusion of casual thoughtlessness, while actually being quite deliberate. A lowercase “i” presents as low-ego humility, but the real message is that you can afford not to care what your message recipients think of you.
