People, stop calling Arial or Courier a font! It's not!
Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Times Roman, Lucida and Bookman are typefaces, or even font families, not fonts.
A font, if you'll look in a real dictionary and one not swayed by the computer industry, is a specific size and style of a certain font family or typeface. Wikipedia agrees. A font is "Times Roman, 9 point, italic" or "Helvetica, 12 point, plain." This, I learned back in art school, came from when they stored a specific style and size typeface in a drawer known as a printers drawer, back before you hung them on the wall and put all your tiny knick-knack thingamajiggies in there. A printers drawer held a font. When typesetting a block of text to be printed by hand, you pulled the font tray to work with for convenience, and someone of more importance than the typesetter would most likely go through the story and add emphasis with bold or italic - from a different font tray. So back in the day, you could hear the correct use of the word:"Wally, can you pull the Times 12 point font for me, I got a hot story?!"
(If no style is specified, then plain is assumed because it is used most often.)
Somehow, through no control of my own, the computer industry has bastardized the use of the word font. I know about this, so don't start sending me all your Power Point manuals. All the computer programs today use the word as if it was synonymous with the word typeface. Right now, in my blogger compose window, I'm looking at the "Font pulldown" menu and I curse at it every time, believe me.
Friends that have heard me rant about this before say to me that I should just let this go - that it's kind of like saying Kleenex when we all know it's really a tissue, but I say this is different. Font is not the most popular brand name of typefaces.
Maybe people are just too tired to say, "font family" instead? You know, I could accept that font is used as a shortcut word, as long as people knew that it was. If someone asks me what Coke is short for, I know it's a shortened name for Coca-cola. But if you ask people what font is short for, 99% of them would have no idea, so sorry, that story is not stacking up either.
I prefer to just think of the whole debacle as that I'm smarter than most people on this subject and I'm here today to spread the word to you, my loyal readers, so that you may be smarter too. I unleash the wisdom on you so that you can be snooty the next time you hear someone use the word incorrectly and by all means, let 'em have it!
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Interesting Kristi, I had no idea about the word font versus typeface. I have been edgamacated by the computer industry, so I am one of those...
Funny you should mention Kleenex and tissue, my grandma had a funny phrase like that. She always said she was going to Hoover the rug, not vacuum, but Hoover!
Wait a minute, I just need to get a Xerox, uh, photocopy of that so I can unleash the dawgs next time I am confronted by such blasphemy. As I look closer, it appears this blasphemy is industry-wide--even Adobe doesn't promote family values!
I'm going to the Frigidaire to get a Coke and crank up the Victrola.
Whoa... you relly gotta cut down on the coffee!
When I first started using a computer, around the time my son was born, I kept referring to "typefaces," and kept getting corrected that it was a "font." I feel so vindicated.
I thank you most sincerely. Do you have any thoughts on the word used to describe a person using a computer keyboard? A typist? A keyboarder? Keyboardist? Data entry clerk? Writer? Are they typing? Keyboarding? Writing? Clicking?
Interesting. My grandmother was a typesetter for the Council Bluffs, Iowa Nonpareil before women worked as anything but teachers, nurses, or hookers. This would have bothered her, also.
My goodness Krispi, I feel so bad that you allow such trivial nonsense to get to you. I'll pray for peace for you.
Hey, I was trying to edit the HTML on a post yesterday and I noticed that Blogger refers to the 'font family'. I knew you would be proud. Now if Blogger would just be consistent when posting pictures, huh?
Anon Blogger: Holy shit! Our Dad is from Council Bluffs. I have tons of old newspaper clippings from my Granny that are taken from the Nonpareil.
Small world, eh?
Anon. Blogger-Granny was my mother and was a reporter for the Nonpareil and I a delivery boy. I used to hang out in the office before my papers were ready to be picked up. I used to watch the typesetters to their job and try to stay away from the molden lead. Perhaps I knew your grandmother.
SD: In school, we used the code word Hoover to refer to someone that gave a lot of hickeys. Of course, that would be hard to clean a carpet with one of those...
SV: And Adobe is supposed to be for artists.
Tim: Don't get me started on the use of the word coffee.
JYen: You're welcome.
Identity: Interesting question, but I don't think you can group everyone that uses a keyboard into a certain career group - but I call it typing.
Binky: It's the little things, you know?!
dadE, vikki, anon - Let me know if you figure out if our granny's knew each other in Coucil Bluffs!
Oh I don't know Kristi. They might be useful for spot cleaning... ;^)
How does one do this? The typesetter was Norma E. Bailey, who was a spinster until my Grandpa married her in the 1950's. She was always my grandma, tho, cause I wasn't born until 1960. Her mother, Maude, owned a tavern in CB during the depression, including gambling in the basement. (I have the old safe that was in the tavern - it's so cool) Maudie was a shrewd business woman. My Grandpa (on mom's side, Chuck Smith) said, "That Maude Bailey would steal from a blind man!" The story goes on!!!
Perhaps the 'younger' generation info would help. Dorothy Smith, class of 1946, AL. Bob Wennihan, class of 1946 TJ.
Kristi: Sorry for littering your blog with this... I wasn't sure what to do with the stuff!
Oh, and Vikkitikitavi.... small world? Oh yeah...
Sorry, I can make no connections with the names. Class of 1954 AL. I used to read gas meters part time during high school so I knew CB very well. I probably knew the tavern location.
anon - if you want to send an email to the one in my profile - I'll hook you up with my dad. It might be fun to see if there's a connection there somewhere.
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