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The Story Behind the Shift Key

The shift key lets you type capital letters by changing the case of characters.

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Key Points

4 points

It changes the case of letters from lower to upper.

Originally it moved typebars on a typewriter to a higher position.

The term “shift” describes this movement.

The name remained when keyboards became digital.

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On mechanical typewriters, pressing the key moved the typebars upward, shifting the position where the ink struck the paper.

Because this action was a literal shift, the key was named accordingly.

Modern computer keyboards kept the name even though the mechanism is electronic.

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5 words

capital letters

big letters like A B C

case

whether a letter is big (capital) or small (lowercase)

typebars

metal sticks in a typewriter that hit the paper to print letters

mechanical

working with moving parts like gears

electronic

using electricity and circuits instead of moving parts

Want to learn even more? Click here to read the full story!