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Uppercase And Lowercase

Why are the terms lowercase and uppercase used to describe small and capital letters? This terminology is from the days of the printing press when type was set by hand. Individual letters made of metal blocks were kept in type cases with many compartments. The typesetter assembled the letters into lines of text to be imprinted on paper with ink. While the typesetter worked, the smaller letters were kept in one drawer or case, and the larger letters and punctuation marks were kept in another. The letter box closest to the typesetter contained the smaller letters because these were used more often. The capital letters and other symbols were usually kept in the case that required a slightly farther reach. This is how the large letters became known as “uppercase”. Prior to the printing press (1450s), lowercase letters were called minuscule and uppercase letters were called majuscule. Today, the term “caps” is commonly used to describe print that is all in capital letters.