SUMMARY: Fixing a screwed up xterm

As I suspected, the solution was embarrassingly simple:
<CRTL>-<Middle Click> and choose 'hardreset'

Stephen Forbes came up with the simple command: "tput sgr 0"

Many others suggested "echo <CTRL>v<CTRL>o"


Original Question:
  >
  > This is a minor problem that has annoyed me for some time.
  > Occasionally I accidentally cat a binary file which confuses the xterm
  > I'm working in. From that point on all lowercase characters print as
  > graphic characters. It looks something like line noise. I've tried
  > reset, stty sane, and tput reset -- but nothing works. I always resort
  > to closing the xterm and opening a new one.
  >
  > Is there a command that will fix the problem?


Thanks to all,
Rich