Talk:Backtick

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Transposition from typewriters[edit]

German typewriter (QWERTZ keyboard) with dead keys for acute and grave

The current text in the lead about transposing from typewriters a bit hand-waving. Looking at IBM Selectric typewriter#Keyboard layout, there jest ain't no backtick. I tried to improve it but then realised I had airbrushed out maybe ten or fifteen years of history because it was a late arrival into the ASCII standard. Maybe the transposition story is just too messy to include in the lead? More work needed!

(It is curious, is it not, that there was never an acute key? Some pictures I have seen have an inclined single quote that is a mirror image of the backtick but no chance of ever finding one again.) John Maynard Friedman (talk) 12:22, 19 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect it was a "dead key" on French and other European typewriters. ASCII certainly copied it from there, along with the tilde and caret. For acute, I'm fairly certain the typewriters tried to merge the acute and apostrophe typebars though I don't know if they had two keys, one "dead" and the other not.Spitzak (talk) 18:23, 19 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

It would be great if it were true, but it isn't. I've copied over an image from fr.wiki that shows that it had precomposed characters for grave, cedilla and accute at least.

--John Maynard Friedman (talk) 19:26, 19 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

(Interestingly, it has a circumflex/diaeresis key [next to P] that is probably a dead key, for a guess?) --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 21:07, 19 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

On DE.WIKI, I found an image of a German typewriter (QWERTZ keyboard) with dead keys for acute and grave.^[1] So that, I think, is the evidence we need? --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 23:41, 19 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ Apostrophe and acute accent confusion

QUERTZ Typewriter Image[edit]

I know very little about this topic, but I noticed that the bottom image, of the Florida-brand, "QWERTZ" typewriter doesn't actually have a QWERTZ layout, the Z and Y are in their typical QWERTY positions. It's not a standard QWERTY (no "M" and a "Ñ"), but maybe QWERTZ is shorthand to indicate other layout differences? In any event, it struck me as odd so I thought I might call some expert's attention to it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Autrui (talk • contribs) 14:37, 3 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Autrui: it's a cockup, not a conspiracy. I cannot tell a lie, it was I who added that image. Before I added an actual description to it on Commons just now, the description called it a QWERTZ typewriter but I have no idea where it got that from. As you point out, it isn't, it's a non-standard QWERTY. I'll change the caption for now and search commons for an alternative.--John Maynard Friedman (talk) 18:54, 3 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I have found a suitable image (inserted at start of this section) and will now replace the image in the article. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 19:06, 3 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

On second thoughts, the IMESA typewriter with four dead keys better illustrates the text, so I've let it stand but changed the caption. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 19:20, 3 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Apostrophe and acute accent confusion

[1]