western australia

Upper- and lower-case origin

@JudyEv (386124)

Rockingham, Australia

July 23, 2025 7:23pm CST

While we were in New Norcia, Western Australia, we did a two-hour walking tour of the town. New Norcia is Australia’s only monastery town but now has only seven monks as opposed to the 70 that were once there. Apart from the farming activities, there was boarding facilities for boys and girls. The monks had a number of talents between them including a fully operational printing press. The photo shows a cupboard which held the letters used when type-setting. On top of the case is an open holder. Lower-case letters were kept in the lower part of the case and upper-case letters in the top part. And that’s how the terms ‘upper-case’ and ‘lower-case’ came about.

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16 responses

@FourWalls (88381)

• United States

24 Jul 25

How fascinating! Thanks for sharing that with us!

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@FourWalls (88381)

• United States

25 Jul 25

@JudyEv — I agree! I mean, we’ve called them “upper case” and “lower case” without any thought as to WHY.

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

I thought it was pretty special.

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@rsa101 (41606)

• Philippines

24 Jul 25

I now find it fascinating and never really understood the origins of uppercase and lowercase letters.

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

I'd like to spend time in a printer's office. It's all very intriguing to me.

2 people like this

@rsa101 (41606)

• Philippines

25 Jul 25

@JudyEv I do not know if they still have them. I know it's different now; making press is faster nowadays.

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@Fishmomma (11658)

• United States

24 Jul 25

I like it and thanks for sharing a photo.

3 people like this

@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

Printing techniques fascinate me for some reason.

2 people like this

@allknowing (153525)

• India

24 Jul 25

Unbelievable that those expressions emanated from what the Monks were up to

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@allknowing (153525)

• India

25 Jul 25

@JudyEv The whole world has recognised that which started in a humble monastery

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@Ronrybs (21919)

• London, England

24 Jul 25

I gather cleche comes from the early printing industry as well.

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@Fleura (36096)

• United Kingdom

26 Jul 25

I can't even find it, the search engine just gives me results for 'cliche'

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

26 Jul 25

@Fleura That happened to me too but i think I found it on page 2 and linked with another word. It's to do with heraldry.

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

I had to look up 'cleche'. I've never heard of the word before so that's my thing learnt for today.

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@LindaOHio (223947)

• United States

24 Jul 25

I didn't know that. You learn something new here every day.

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

I'm always learning new stuff here. Today, I worked out how to make my cursor black instead of white and I was able to enlarge it a little too. I don't lose it nearly so easily now.

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

@LindaOHio I think it was Heather who told me where to go to alter it and DaddyEvil had told her.

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@LindaOHio (223947)

• United States

25 Jul 25

@JudyEv Aren't you clever?!!!!!

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@snowy22315 (211944)

• United States

24 Jul 25

Hmm, that is interesting. Who knew?

2 people like this

@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

Simple when you know about the 'cases' I guess. lol

1 person likes this

changjiangzhibin89

@changjiangzhibin89 (17294)

• China

24 Jul 25

I haven't seen the kind of printing press and the ‘upper-case’ and ‘lower-case’ letters.At present, people use computer-to-plate and digital printing .

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

Printing has changed a great deal since computers were introduced.

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@LadyDuck (507054)

• Italy

24 Jul 25

I have seen in person those printing press, but I did not know about lower-case and upper-case, very interesting.

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@LadyDuck (507054)

• Italy

25 Jul 25

@JudyEv I would love to watch the same.

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

I'd love to spend time watching someone 'set the type' or whatever it is they do.

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@Tampa_girl7 (54782)

• United States

24 Jul 25

I learned something new. Thanks

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@Tampa_girl7 (54782)

• United States

25 Jul 25

@JudyEv Me either.

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

I hadn't really thought much about it before.

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@wolfgirl569 (138788)

• Marion, Ohio

24 Jul 25

That's interesting how they got named

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

I thought so too.

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@garymarsh6 (24294)

• United Kingdom

24 Jul 25

Realistically it should be the other way around as upper case are used less frequently than lower case. Their poor backs!

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

I think they would pull out a whole drawer, place it on top of the cupboard then open it up so there wouldn't be much bending.

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@Shiva49 (28620)

• Singapore

24 Jul 25

Interesting information. We have made progress rather fast to come to this stage and the pace is increasing by the day.

2 people like this

@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

That's true. The world of printing would have changed a great deal.

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@Beestring (15372)

• Hong Kong

24 Jul 25

Interesting information. Thank you for sharing.

2 people like this

@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

You're welcome. I love finding out 'how stuff works'. I'd love to know more about how books are printed.

2 people like this

@xFiacre (15155)

• Ireland

24 Jul 25

@judyev I wondered about that, but never sufficiently to find out. Thanks.

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

Perfectly logical once you know, isn't it?

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@Fleura (36096)

• United Kingdom

24 Jul 25

That is interesting. I learn so many things from MyLot!

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@Fleura (36096)

• United Kingdom

26 Jul 25

@JudyEv No I missed that, will look for it now, thanks!

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

26 Jul 25

@Fleura It's in the comments, not a separate discussion.

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@JudyEv (386124)

• Rockingham, Australia

25 Jul 25

Did you read Looeyville's explanation on watching your p's and q's? That comes from the printing industry too.

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