I think you're on to something there, because cruising Safari's menu items reveals that every command that incorporates ⇧ also includes a letter that's displayed as u.c. despite the fact that the command's intention is l.c.
And further, commands that incorporate signs/symbols lack ⇧ because they're readily identifiable as requiring ⇧ if it's necessary (8/* by way of example), "pipe" being an exception, because it's so easily confused with "I".
And as you pointed out, the +/= thing is an anomaly.
