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Thank you for the explanation. I assumed that our good Father would not make such an obvious mistake, but my dictionary gave me no clues. I am always pleased how such a simple question can have such an interesting answer, and how quickly this group can provide it. 
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Thank you, Shanks, for coming to the defense of the word "Italic" -- a term with a venerable ancestry which, while cognate, does not share the meaning of "Italian."
I offer you a cyber-bouquet, my champion.
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Re Italics.
In the production (typographic) area of several newspapers at which I worked there was posted prominently a sign : "He who would letterspace Italics would steal sheep"
"Letterspacers" are thin slivers of metal used to spread out letter to make a group of words fit evenly in one line of type. The saying started where real metal type that was set on a linotype was used then set into banks of type then locked into a form before going on the press. However the meaning carried over into the process of "offset" where printing is done from a photographic plate. This is more than anyone wants to know about arcane aspects of italic printing, isn't it? And I've totally forgotten the point I set off to make.
SOME-body stop me !!!
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Joined: Sep 2000
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Wow (in my mind you have been Worker of Words),
Why would we want to stop you? One of the things I love about this board is the variety of the postings offered by contributors of different nations, religions, philosophies, occupations, age, interests,... Your insights into the printing world, past and present, are fascinating. How could our discussion of all things wordy ever be complete without acknowledging the importance of getting all those tricky little characters onto paper in the right order and position?
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wow, I enjoyed your story! And you're just the person (I hope) who can answer this (and, I hope, expand on it): Is it true that the terms "upper case" and lower case" come from the positions of the boxes containing said letters in pre-offset days?
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AnnaS, I will have to look that one up....offhand it rings a bell but in what regard I'll have to ponder. It has been awhile. Bear with me. Back atcha' soonest.
WOW
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It is all true. Cold type was stored in a fascinating box called a California type case. The capital letters were kept at the top -- which made them more distant from the type being set -- and the smaller letters at the bottom, as they were used more often. Hence, upper and lower case.
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Ah Ha I think this is the answer to your u/c l/c question. In the old days there were news cases also known as type cases into which letters were sorted. A pair of type cases, consisting of the cap and lower case were popularly used for news composition in the days before typecasting machines (Linotypes, thank you Mr. Mergenthaler.) Does this clear it up for you? G'night all....it is 23:28 hours EST and Morpheus awaits. WOW
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Just read the last post before mine....California case sounds as reasonable as my answer. WOW
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