INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY (June 28)
Most internet arguments would probably be less stressful if nobody had discovered the Caps Lock key.
Instead, humanity invented a button that turns ordinary sentences into what feels like a public announcement from an angry airport employee.
WELCOME TO INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY.
Observed on June 28 and October 22, this wonderfully unnecessary holiday celebrates one of the most misunderstood keys on the keyboard. Depending on who you ask, Caps Lock is either a useful tool, a relic from another era, or a digital air horn that should never have survived the invention of email.
Personally, I think it’s all three.
The holiday started as a joke. Which honestly makes it more legitimate than some observances I’ve researched.
When is the Holiday?
INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY is observed twice each year, on June 28 and October 22.
Why This Holiday Exists
International Caps Lock Day was created in 2000 by Iowa software developer Derek Arnold.
The original idea was simple: make fun of people who typed entire messages in capital letters online.
At the time, internet forums, chat rooms, and email chains were full of accidental and intentional all-caps messages. Somewhere along the way, the internet collectively agreed that typing in all caps meant shouting.
Nobody voted on this.
No official committee met.
Humanity just looked at giant capital letters and decided, “Yep, that’s yelling.”
Arnold leaned into the absurdity and created a holiday dedicated to the key itself. The joke spread across early internet communities and somehow survived longer than many actual websites from that era.
A second date, June 28, was later added in honor of Billy Mays, the infomercial legend whose speaking style could reasonably be described as verbal Caps Lock.
If you’ve ever heard “BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!” you understand immediately.
The Part People Actually Remember
The Internet Invented A New Form Of Body Language
Before texting, tone was usually conveyed through actual voices.
Online communication changed everything.
Suddenly people needed ways to show excitement, emphasis, sarcasm, frustration, or enthusiasm using nothing but text.
Caps Lock became one of the earliest forms of internet body language.
Unfortunately, it mostly became the body language equivalent of standing on a table and yelling.
Some People Still Accidentally Activate It Daily
Despite decades of technological progress, millions of people still accidentally hit Caps Lock.
The result is usually a password failure, a confused email draft, or five seconds of furious typing before someone notices EVERYTHING LOOKS WRONG.
It’s one of the few keyboard mistakes that can instantly ruin your mood.
Many Modern Keyboards Tried To Get Rid Of It
Several keyboard designers have proposed removing Caps Lock entirely.
Every time this happens, surprisingly passionate debates follow.
Some people genuinely need it for coding, accessibility, data entry, or design work.
Others haven’t touched it since 2004.
The discussions become weirdly emotional for a key most people claim not to use.
Most Languages Don’t Even Need It
One of the funniest parts of the holiday’s origin story is Arnold pointing out that many writing systems don’t use uppercase and lowercase letters at all.
Entire civilizations function perfectly well without a button dedicated to making letters larger.
Meanwhile English speakers created an annual holiday around it.
All-Caps Messages Can Actually Change How People Perceive You
Studies on online communication have repeatedly found that formatting influences how messages are interpreted.
The exact same sentence can seem excited, aggressive, sarcastic, enthusiastic, or chaotic depending on capitalization.
“That’s amazing.”
“THAT’S AMAZING.”
Those are technically identical words.
They do not feel identical.
Why People Get Weird About Caps Lock
Few keyboard keys inspire stronger opinions.
Backspace is universally appreciated.
Spacebar quietly does its job.
Caps Lock somehow became a personality test.
Some people use it constantly for emphasis.
Others see all-caps text and immediately assume the sender is either furious or over the age of seventy.
Then there are the rebels who intentionally use all lowercase because capital letters feel too formal.
Language evolves in strange ways.
We started with cave paintings and somehow ended up debating keyboard etiquette.
Ways To Actually Celebrate
- Write one social media post entirely in capital letters and see how people react.
- Watch a few classic Billy Mays commercials. They’re basically spoken Caps Lock.
- Revisit old internet forums and message boards. The amount of accidental shouting is remarkable.
- Challenge friends to communicate only in all caps for an hour.
- Dig out an old keyboard and appreciate how many keys exist purely because typewriters existed first.
- Send a dramatically overexcited text about something completely ordinary.
For example:
“I FOUND A REALLY GOOD PARKING SPACE.”
Honestly, that’s the correct use of Caps Lock.
Ways To Use This At Work
- Run a Slack poll asking which keyboard key causes the most frustration.
- Share famous all-caps internet moments in a company newsletter.
- Have coworkers submit their funniest accidental Caps Lock stories.
- Restaurants and bars can post menu specials entirely in capital letters for the day.
- Social media managers can create an intentionally overdramatic all-caps post and invite followers to respond in kind.
People enjoy low-stakes internet chaos more than they admit.
Worth Buying, Watching, Or Trying
Billy Mays Infomercial Compilations – These videos are essentially the human embodiment of Caps Lock.
Mechanical Keyboards – Even people who aren’t keyboard enthusiasts sometimes discover they care deeply about keyboards after trying a good one.
It’s a surprisingly expensive rabbit hole.
Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch – One of the most entertaining books about how online communication evolved, including the strange rules we’ve invented around typing.
Related Holidays
National Typewriter Day on June 23 celebrates the ancestor of every modern keyboard.
Social Media Day on June 30 recognizes the platforms where Caps Lock continues to thrive.
National Clean Out Your Computer Day in February is a good reminder to finally figure out why your Caps Lock indicator light stopped working.
And if none of those appeal to you, you can always spend the day doing what the internet has done for decades:
TYPING VERY LOUDLY FOR NO PARTICULAR REASON.
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