death to capslock

An interesting way of looking at it. I could also see him using it, not because he secretly thinks it, but (subconsciously) precisely because of its hurtful power to Lily specifically. (That is, its not the meaning of the word itself that leads him to use it but the fact that she specifically will feel hurt by it. If being called a self involved cow would have been particularly bad to her he would have used that, etc. It's like her jab at his poverty - it's using knowledge of a personal point of particular vulnerability as retaliation.) He feels helpless, he is humiliated, but he is also IMHO angry at her specifically for flirting with James and using him like a prop, etc. He feels deeply hurt by *her* - but given their dynamic he doesn't feel able to consciously acknowledge it fully or feel that he has a right to be angry at her. So instead he subconsciously goes for something that will let him express those feelings in the moment, in a way that will let Lily know that *she* too has hurt him, but later genuinely regrets having tried to hurt her because he does care about her. I could see this coinciding with the status aspect too, and with feeling a need to defend his 'manhood' in front of James et al.