QWERTY

(kwer-tee)

Not specifically an acronym, but the characters represent the key arrangement in the upper left corner of the standard keyboard. This arrangement has been standard since 1868 when Christopher Sholes (inventor of the typewriter) defined it; despite the fact there are more efficient keyboard layouts now. The original layout is supposed to have solved a key jamming problem by arranging the keys to keep nearby type-bars from rising at the same time (springs solved the problem better in future versions). It's also of some interest that the QWERTY layout places all the letters in the word "typewriter" in the same line. This was likely useful when demonstrating and selling early models.

More Information

• QWERTY Connection