The Meaning of Italics

by Sep 11, 2014Linguistics

Screen Shot 2014-09-11 at 10.24.27 AM_shrink

All the marks on a printed page—and a lot of the spaces—carry meaning. Even variations in the shape of some of the marks carry meaning. And the meaning of those marks and those variations has evolved over time, just like spoken language.

Just read this little history of italics. An excerpt:

Interestingly, italics weren’t originally used for emphasis. They were used separately to the roman until the mid-16th century (although the capitals were initially all roman). It’s unclear as to who exactly we have to thank for using italics for emphasis alongside roman type, but it’s usually attributed to either François Guyot or Robert Granjon in France. Since then, italics have become a staple part of type families. Over time they have gained a number of specific uses, and this is where thinking about how they might be used in the content we are designing for can help us choose a good typeface.

Read the whole thing.

Read More 

Find the False Friends!

Find the False Friends!

I'm editing some Puritan prayers for a new Lexham Press project, and I'm really enjoying the edification provided by these wonderfully eloquent, godly Christians of yore. But I am most certainly keeping my thinking cap on as I read (that's my job), because the project...

Prescriptivist Descriptivism

This is exactly where I'm at: Either you smugly preen about the mistakes you find abhorrent – this makes you a so-called prescriptivist – or you show off your knowledge of language change, and poke holes in the prescriptivists’ facts – this makes you a descriptivist....

“Grandfathered In,” Racism, and a Copy-Editor’s True Calling

“Grandfathered In,” Racism, and a Copy-Editor’s True Calling

It seems that the phrase “grandfathered in”—as in, “Smokers who were already working at the company were grandfathered into the new health plan, but new hires won’t be able to get on if they smoke”—has its origins in overtly unjust, racist practices. This was sent to...

A Funny False Friend

A Funny False Friend

The ESV (2000s) of 1 Thessalonians 5:22: Abstain from every form of evil. Wycliffe’s translation (1380s) of the same verse: Absteyne you fro al yuel spice. Why did Wycliffe take a very general command—the most general command possible—and focus it on a very specific...

Leave a comment.

0 Comments