WHAT'S YOUR MALFUNCTION? Navy To Stop Using All Caps Messaging
Unless you were actually in the service, perhaps you didn’t know that the U.S. Navy has been transmitting internal messages in all caps since the mid-1800s. Thus, every directive that’s been handed down (or message that’s been sent up) has been typed as though shouted--which is perhaps fitting for a branch of the armed forces.
Now, the Navy will be moving to a different system of sending messages, and it’s one that will finally offer lower case letters in addition to upper case. This will make messages a little easier to read, which is no doubt a welcome change for younger sailors who are used to email, although some of the old sea dogs probably would prefer things stay the same.
“You have a lot of folks that have been around for a long time and are used to uppercase and they just prefer that it stay there because of the standardized look of it,” said James McCarty, the naval messaging program manager at Fleet Cyber Command.
According to the Navy Times, this all caps trend started out because early teletype machines only had three rows of keys and no room for lower case letters; over 150 years later, technology has finally evolved enough for the Navy to add them.
Now, the Navy will be moving to a different system of sending messages, and it’s one that will finally offer lower case letters in addition to upper case. This will make messages a little easier to read, which is no doubt a welcome change for younger sailors who are used to email, although some of the old sea dogs probably would prefer things stay the same.
“You have a lot of folks that have been around for a long time and are used to uppercase and they just prefer that it stay there because of the standardized look of it,” said James McCarty, the naval messaging program manager at Fleet Cyber Command.
According to the Navy Times, this all caps trend started out because early teletype machines only had three rows of keys and no room for lower case letters; over 150 years later, technology has finally evolved enough for the Navy to add them.
