There was no rant yesterday because I was busy figuring out how to make an appointment for a vaccination for COVID. I will keep you posted on whether or not there are any complications. I do not guarantee a daily rant -- but, I do know there are quite a few that are already written and ready to pop up.
This is for KateR - and anyone else who thinks that foundational isn't ____ (?)
I'm not sure which word Kate used. People often remark that foundational is a rather blah style of writing. There are alternatives to the word blah -- but blah is good enough.
At some point, after Kate and I were discussing the blah-ness of foundational, these two examples popped up and caught my eye.
IMHO foundational has its place. For envelopes, it is very nice for the address. It is a good alternative to penmanship that has some problems. I'd rather see foundational than block printing that is full of inconsistencies.
Chancelleresca on IG has some good examples.
In this case, it is formal. It is also a good choice for the words in the quote.
Here is one more detail (I think it is also from Chancelleresca) that shows some super nice serifs.
Since this is an envelope blog, I will go to Google and see what pops up when I Google foundational envelope.
You may surf around on the site.
Jessica in the UK.
Lots of nice traditional calligraphy.
That amount of centering is impressive.
Today's rant is about the use of the word font - for a calligraphic style. Some calligraphers insist that you can't (should not) use the word font unless you are talking about an actual font. If you are talking about a calligraphic style of hand lettering, the traditionalists insist that you use the word *hand.*
They also won't allow the words majuscule and minuscule in place of upper case and lower case. They think UC and LC should be reserved for actual fonts.
I understand where their opinion is coming from, but, I think it is pretentious. There are multiple words for many things. IMHO, it would be better to simply let people know that there is more than one word. I assure you, in all my years of teaching, it was a whole lot friendlier to explain the options rather than tell people that there were *rules.*
Vellum and parchment is another example where the words are blending. Vellum is usually calf skin (veal) and parchment is usually sheep skin. But for a lot of people, those words are interchangeable. There are other animals that can be skinned and stretched into substrate for books. Goats. Fetal pigs make really nice *stuff to write on.*
There is no way that the word *membrane* is going to make sense to anyone other than *scholars and custodians.* Regular people are going to use the word that comes to mind.
This is from Wiki:
Modern scholars and custodians increasingly use only the less specific if confusing term "membrane".[4][5] Depending on factors such as the method of preparation it may be very hard to determine the animal species involved (let alone its age) without using a laboratory,[6] and the term avoids the need to distinguish between vellum and parchment.
Or, if you want to read more:
Re: "options" vs "rules".
ReplyDeleteThe same argument occurs between musicians over "music theory". One argument is that theory is "hard and fast rules" but the counter to that is that breaking the rules in a pleasing way is what makes a piece memorable and oh by the way Bach and everyone else along the way has 'broken' them somewhere along the line.
thank you -- I like parallels
DeleteI do enjoy your rants! And this one in particular struck a cord with me.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a young one anymore and have only been in the lettering arts for about 10 years (started with I was 35ish), but when it comes to the term "font" it makes me cringe when people use it in terms of calligraphy. Now granted, it is those that don't do calligraphy (although I hear it more and more from those that actually do calligraphy) and I will state that font is something you find on your computer and what calligraphers write or teach our hands. I know it may seem petty or inconsequential but to me the time and effort I've put into writing and practice to be called a "font" just down plays my efforts....
Ok, my rant over! :)