INTERESTING FACT OF THE DAY

[Brettus]

Nice, didn't know the origin of that.

In the age of type setting, commonly used letters were stored in the closer to hand, lower case, whereas less used letters such as capitals were stored in the upper case.

Italics has nothing to do with meaning slanty text, it's named after it's country of origin (Italy) and was developed to fit more text on a page.

Oh and the fact that blew my mind this week, your mother is a 3D printer and your father was just provided software.... (No offence or pun intended, just quite a true analogy I thought)

On the subject of type setting.

The keys on a computer keyboard were actually laid out like they are to slow down typists in the early days of the type writer, so that the letter stamp thingys, no idea what they are called, wouldn't clash and get tangled.

[Grant66]

Originally Posted by ClunkintheUK

the letter stamp thingys, no idea what they are called

Typebar

Sent from a portable communication device.

Originally Posted by ClunkintheUK

On the subject of type setting.

The keys on a computer keyboard were actually laid out like they are to slow down typists in the early days of the type writer, so that the letter stamp thingys, no idea what they are called, wouldn't clash and get tangled.

Close, but no cigar. It was laid out in such a way that the most frequently used letters were far enough apart not to clash.

If it were to slow them down it would have only done so until they learned the new layout.

[Brettus]

+1 for the pedant
Anyone tried Dvorak layout or azerty?

Originally Posted by Matt-EUC

Close, but no cigar. It was laid out in such a way that the most frequently used letters were far enough apart not to clash.

If it were to slow them down it would have only done so until they learned the new layout.

Then why are e and a so close to each other?

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by ClunkintheUK

The phrase "the whole 9 yards" comes from WW2. The cannons on a Spitfire or Hurricane had about 7 seconds of belt fed ammunition. The belts were 9 yards long. These were normally fired in short bursts and their focus would be on multiple planes in a single engagement. But if they expended all their ammunition in a single burst or at a single target they said they gave them "the whole 9 yards".

Sorry a few factual errors. Spitfires and Hurricanes were both armed originally with eight .303 Browning machine guns, they were not fitted with cannon until 1941/42. Also the Hispano cannon were drum fed not belt fed. So if referring to the length of the ammunition belts it must refer to the Browning machine gun equipped planes. If this is the case, then both the Spitfire and Hurricane had enough ammunition for 16 seconds continuous firing (not 7 seconds) and generally Hurricanes always had a little more.

I really don't think this is the origin of the phrase 'the whole 9 yards' and wikipedia seems to agree http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_whole_nine_yards

[/pedant off]

Originally Posted by ClunkintheUK

Then why are e and a so close to each other?

Count the A's and E's in your own sentence, then think how often A and E are used together.

Perhaps a bad example, perhaps T and H, E and R then I might get the thinking that some letters are used together are there right next to each other on the keyboard.

As Brettus inadvertently pointed out there are other layouts which have been designed for faster/easier typing in the electronic age.

Also its the mechanism and the closeness on the Typebar (thanks Grant66) that is the important part for not jamming commonly-used-next-to-each-other letters.

Originally Posted by Luckypants

Sorry a few factual errors. Spitfires and Hurricanes were both armed originally with eight .303 Browning machine guns, they were not fitted with cannon until 1941/42. Also the Hispano cannon were drum fed not belt fed. So if referring to the length of the ammunition belts it must refer to the Browning machine gun equipped planes. If this is the case, then both the Spitfire and Hurricane had enough ammunition for 16 seconds continuous firing (not 7 seconds) and generally Hurricanes always had a little more.

I really don't think this is the origin of the phrase 'the whole 9 yards' and wikipedia seems to agree http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_whole_nine_yards

[/pedant off]

Really?! oh darn it. I really liked that story too. yes I was referring to the browning machine guns, I thought they were referred to as cannon too, because they were pretty big. I was remembering a story from way back when we went to the Imperial War Museum as a kid.