How to Avoid Looking Like an Idiot when Emphasizing Words in Writing.
If you put even a single word in all caps, like THIS, you will offend some of your readers. Instead, put that word in italics, like this. This is especially important in personal communications, like email, and in chat rooms, YouTube comments, and so on, where offense is so often taken.
It’s not such a big deal in an article or book.
IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT PUTTING EVERY WORD IN ALL CAPS LIKE THIS IS OFFENSIVE. IT IS KNOWN A “SHOUTING” AND IT IS SAID TO “HURT THE EYES”.
Not everyone realizes that even a SINGLE word in all caps is often perceived as “shouting” that one word. Not as offensive as shouting every word, but still significantly offensive. Instead, use italics.
Often the way to make italics is by flanking the word or phrase with asterisks (AKA stars). You type *this*, and it is printed/displayed as this.
If you type *a phrase like this*, it is displayed as a phrase like this.
If italics are not available, like in YouTube comments, you can put a word in italics typing it like _this_ which is called “underscore”. Underscore and italics are equivalent in this context.
Also, underline and italics are equivalent. When writing by hand, or on a mechanical typewriter, to indicate italics, you underline words.
If you have to use all caps, you should apologize and/or explain why. Like THIS (sorry for the all caps, I can’t find the italics button).
If you are not convinced, have a look at a chat room where some educated people are making occasional use of italics for emphasis, and take a close look at the cases where all caps are used for emphasis instead. Notice first how rare those users are. Second, notice how those users, who are using all caps for emphasis, instead of the slightly more difficult to type italics, tend to show a general lack of concern about whether they give offense.
A note on a different but related topic. It’s wrong to use quotes to indicate “emphasis”, like that. Quotes have the opposite effect, indicating that you are not taking that position yourself. E.g. I could say that my “brother” likes me a lot. I am implying that I wouldn’t use that word myself, at least not about this person. It implies that someone *else* calls him my brother, or he alone thinks he is my brother.
Another error is to make the first letter a capital to show emphasis, like This. You really look like a fool if you write that someone is your Brother and therefore should show Loyalty. Instead, write that he is your brother, and therefore should show loyalty.
Also, don’t give an initial capital to every technical term. You might be reading about biochemistry, and learning about carbon, polyunsaturates, and so on. You aren’t reading about Biochemistry, and learning about Carbon, Polyunsaturates, and so on.
To summarize: don’t emphasize a word like THIS, This, or “this”. Do emphasize a word like this, _this_, [this underlined in handwriting], or *this*.
