The Surprising Origin Of 'Uppercase' And 'Lowercase' Is Hiding In Plain Sight

Filed 1h ago · Via HuffPost · The Buffoon Desk

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Bass Walker

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Aliceinthealice · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

HuffPost traces 'uppercase' and 'lowercase' to the physical wooden cases printers used to store metal type, with capital letters kept in a case positioned higher and smaller, more frequently used letters kept lower for easy reach. The first documented use appears in Joseph Moxon's 1683 printing manual, though evidence of printers sorting type into cases dates to 1553.

Linguists interviewed note the terms migrated from printing-house jargon into everyday vocabulary, with most people today unaware the words describe a printer's physical reach rather than letter height on a page.

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Source: Read the original at HuffPost → Scored: Bass Walker · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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