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Feeling “all out of sorts” these days? There’s probably the printing press to blame – for the expression. From “stereotype” to “above the fold,” a vast collection of colloquialisms can be attributed to machines like the printing press and typewriter that made our words easily visible. It may sound cliché, but for all of these words, we have many people (and objects) to thank.
When the printing press was introduced in the 15th century, the impact was felt in a variety of areas: the reading ability of common folk, ease of production, easier spread of information, and even additions to everyday language that we even use today. While nowadays a “stereotype” can refer to an untrue common belief we have on a person or thing, it comes from a problem in press shops. The type and molds used for printing were very expensive back in the day so printers would reuse a stereotype of common words and phrases on their large printing orders. “Upper case” and “lower case” letters we actually get from the printing press as well, as printers but larger and smaller letters in separate cases in order to stay organized.
Like its wooden predecessor, the typewriter upon its invention also contributed to a variety of idioms still used today. Saying that someone is a “carbon copy” of another person can trace its roots back to when typists would add a sheet of carbon paper to a regular sheet of paper, giving them the ability to create a copy of their work.
Similar to the inventions of the printing press and the typewriter, a new group of verbiage is growing into the common language today with the introduction of mobile phones and texting. When one is using a phrase or term, pause to think about where that may have come from…
