From: "John W. Kennedy" <jwkenne@...>
Date: 2006-10-27T11:35:04+09:00
Subject: Re: downcase part of a string

F. Senault wrote:
> Le 26 octobre 2006 � 02:04, Rick DeNatale a �crit :
> 
>> I've heard that accents were dropped on capital letters because
>> accented capitals weren't commonly available on typewriters.  
> 
> That was my understanding too.

No, it goes back at least to the 18th century, to my certain knowledge, 
long before typewriters were invented. The typefaces just weren't 
designed with the extra room on top, and no one seems to have thought of 
(or rejected on aesthetic grounds) shrinking the letters a bit to fit 
the accent in.

-- 
John W. Kennedy
"The blind rulers of Logres
Nourished the land on a fallacy of rational virtue."
   -- Charles Williams.  "Taliessin through Logres: Prelude"