TYPECASTING

Why are capital letters called "upper case" and non-capital ones "lower case?" I always just presumed that it was because the capital letters were often taller and thus more "up" than their small brethren. Actually, however, the term arose in manual typesetting days, and the true explanation is elegant in its simplicity. Namely, printers (i.e. people who printed, not the little electronic paper-spewing boxes connected to computers which cost $75 while their ink refills cost twice as much) traditionally kept the capital type in the top of their storage cases while the small letter type would go into the lower.