Barack Obama prefers Gotham October 31, 2008
Posted by Olivia McDowell in Art, Democracy, Design, Obama!, Pretty!, The Ether, Typography.Tags: Design for Obama, Gotham, Obama!, Politics
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{ rmastalerz for Design For Obama }
“Put the word “change” in Comic Sans and the idea feels lightweight and silly. Place it in Times Roman and it feels self-important. In Gotham, it feels just right. Inspiring, not threatening.”
— Branding expert Brian Collins in ‘To the Letter Born’, NYTimes.com
(Really, I just wanted an excuse to say how much I love Obama, Design for Obama and the global atmosphere of Democratic Optimism: ie. very, very much.)
First published at tumblr Proof (v.)
Word Nerds of the Web, Unite! October 28, 2008
Posted by Olivia McDowell in Blogging, School, Spellcheck, The Ether, Words.Tags: Editing Blogs, Grammar Blogs, Nomenclature, Punctuation Blogs, Snark
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The significance of the following list is yet to be realised (suspenseful much?). Suffice it to say that I am not the only snark in this world wide web.
Broad-Spectrum Editing Blogs
→ Editrix
→ English FAIL Blog: FAIL pictures of the English language
→ Detected Errors: Sundry errors in sundry places
→ It’s Your Damned Language
→ Little Red Pen: A little red pen goes a long way
→ Mighty Red Pen (In case a little red pen is not enough)
→ Red Pen, Inc.
→ Your Sew Vein
Grammartastic Blogs
→ Grammarblog: Split infinitives and beyond
→ The Grammar Scribe
→ The Grammar Vandal
→ Our Bold Hero: Dispatches from a Grammar Wars Foot Soldier
→ Save Grammar.: One woman’s quest…
→ SPOGG: Society for the Promotion Of Good Grammar
→ Villa Grammatica
Apostrophe Blogs
→ Apostrophe Catastrophes: The Worlds’ Worst. Punctuation;
→ Apostrophe Abuse
→ Apostrophism
→ The Shelter for Abused Apostrophes: aka Rants in My Pants
Niche Blogs
→ Literally, A Web Log
→ Lowercase L
Enjoy!
First published at tumblr Proof(v.)
If the world could vote October 27, 2008
Posted by Olivia McDowell in Art, Democracy, Etcetera, Obama!, Pretty!, The Ether.Tags: If The World Could Vote, Obama!, Politics
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http://www.iftheworldcouldvote.com
I am loving the uniform blueness of these results.
(Er, except Macedonia. Why so McCain?)
First published at tumblr Proof (v.)
Here be Pilcrows! More punctuation plunder October 25, 2008
Posted by Olivia McDowell in Punctuation, The Ether, Typography, Words.Tags: Alinea, Asterism, Daggers, Glyphs, Interpunct, Interrobang, Punctuation, Symbols, Wikipedia
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While answering my interrobang queries, the wild seas of Wikipedia kindly churned up all manner of odd punctuation, glyphs and symbols, from the truly obscure to those more commonplace, though their names are not.
I have trawled through the treasure trove, and here is the booty:
Uncharted Waters
⁂ = Asterism (next sub-chapter!)
¤ = Currency (when specific currency sign unavailable. Useful!)
· = Interpunct (re: spaces, graphemes and pronunciation)
†‡ = Daggers (re: footnotes, wicket-keepers and dead people)
It’s called what now?
/ = Solidus (not “slash”)
^ = Caret (not “little up arrow above 6”)
¶ = Pilcrow or Alinea (not “paragraph sign”)
` = Prime (not “the other thing on the tilda key”)
First published at tumblr Proof (v.)
Why so obscure‽ (An open letter to The Interrobang) October 25, 2008
Posted by Olivia McDowell in Ire, Punctuation, Typography, Words.Tags: Interrobang, Punctuation
1 comment so far
Dear Interrobang,
You ingenious exclamation mark/question mark hybrid, you,
How is it that you have hitherto been absent from my life‽
Why so obscure‽
Is it because you’ve only been around since 1967, the invention of (oh, the indignity) an advertising guy‽ Is it because you, like my maligned friend fora, are ‘non-standard’ and therefore thoroughly unused and uncool‽
Is it because I have to look you up in Character Map every time I want to use you‽
…Maybe you should get out more. I mean, you’re not even in the OED. If only you had made an effort to gain popular currency, we might have met sooner.
Well, now that we’ve been properly introduced, I suppose I shall make an effort to keep in touch. In times of indignation and disbelief, I shall look you up, interrobang.
Yours,
Emphatically/interrogatively,
O
First published at tumblr Proof (v.)
Typography, my love! October 23, 2008
Posted by Olivia McDowell in Art, Design, Pretty!, The Ether, Typography.Tags: Keep Calm, Typography
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from Keep Calm Ltd (yes, as in all those Keep Calm And Carry On posters/postcards/t-shirts/tea towels &c).
Earworms and Mind Wanderings October 19, 2008
Posted by Olivia McDowell in Earworms, Etcetera, Pretty!.Tags: Ads, Douglas Adams, Joanna Newsom, Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, Lose Yourself in Melbourne, Music, The Sprout and The Bean
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The Sprout and The Bean, by Joanna Newsom
Last heard: in the ‘Lose Yourself in Melbourne’ TV ad.
Right now, deadlines are swooping down upon me
like the vengeful fighter jet-turned-eagle
in Douglas Adams’ The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.
So wandering along cobblestones
to the tune of harps/nonsensical lyrics,
wearing a pretty dress
and carrying nought but a big ball of red wool
sounds like a charming idea.
First published at tumblr proof (v.)
A Non Sequitur non sequitur. October 18, 2008
Posted by Olivia McDowell in Art, Blogging, Laughing, The Ether, Words.Tags: Blogging, Danae, Mac, Non sequitur, Wiley
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Non Sequitur. Does not follow logic; follows reality instead.
PS. Am very upset to see Danae using a mac.
First published at tumblr Proof (v.)
Helvetica: Love/Hate, Yes/No October 16, 2008
Posted by Olivia McDowell in Art, Democracy, Design, FFFFOUND!, Helvetica, The Ether, Typography.Tags: Helvetica, Poll
2 comments
What say you?
First published at tumblr proof (v.)
Caricature → Caricare → Karicare → Camembert → …Chipboard? October 14, 2008
Posted by Olivia McDowell in Etcetera, The Ether, The News, Words.Tags: Archaic words, Camembert, Caricare, Caricature, Chipboard, Etymology, Karicare, Melmaine, The News
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Talk Wordy says that the New York Times says that the word caricature — as in grossly exaggerated cartoon portrait — stems from the Italian word caricare, meaning ‘to overload’.
Karicare is a brand of infant feeding formula, designed to pump your little bundle of joy so full of vitamins, minerals and toxic urea byproducts that they’ll drop dead before they get big enough to bother you much. Okay, not really, but it was touch-and-go for a while there (click here for more exciting but typically Wikiesque background on the “2008 Chinese milk scandal”).
Anyway, coincidence? I think not!*
And on that note, is it just me or does the idea of melamine-tainted dairy products conjure up an image of two French people finding great big chunks of white-coated chipboard in their camembert?
(images via jjorly, frencheese and cheeseboard.co.uk)
Oh là là! Adds a whole new meaning to the term ‘cheeseboard’!
* Still trying to establish origins of this phrase. Watch this space**.
** This one too.
First published at Caricare> Karicare> Camembert> Chipboard? at tumblr Proof (v.)” href=”http://miss-om.tumblr.com/post/54462249/caricature-caricare-karicare-camembert” target=”_blank”>tumblr Proof (v.)
