StudlyCaps
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
StudlyCaps (or perhaps StUdLyCaPs, also known as StickyCaps) is a variation of CamelCase in which the individual letters in a word (or words) are capitalized and not capitalized, either at random or in some pattern.
According to the Jargon File, "ThE oRigiN and SigNificaNce of thIs pRacTicE iS oBscuRe." It appears to have been popularized among adolescent users during the BBS and early WWW eras of online culture, as a form of rebellion against the rules for proper capitalization of names and sentences. Unlike the use of all lowercase letters, which suggests laziness or efficiency as a motivation, StudlyCaps requires additional effort to type, either holding and releasing the Shift key with one hand while hunting-and-pecking, or alternately pressing one Shift key or the other while touch typing. The iNiQUITY BBS software based on Renegade had a feature to support this automatically.
It may perform a similar social function as the reduced legibility of the highly stylised script commonly used in graffiti. The overt defiance of rules distinguishes it from most forms of CamelCase which, despite their defiance of traditional typographic rules for language, are noteworthy for their adherence to authority-established standards specifying which letters are to be capitalized and which are not.
It should also be noted that some Internet users will secretly hide messages in their capital and lower-case letters (such as "ShoEboX" secretly spelling "SEX" in capitals and "hobo" in lower-case").
StudlyCaps are used in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 fandom as a text representation of Torgo's speech (from the 4th season movie Manos: The Hands of Fate).
Some StudlyCaps come in the form of a pun (such as "sHiFtHaPpEnS").
