# A really ignorant type of question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-ignorant-type-of-question/744
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [February 28, 2000, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-ignorant-type-of-question/744 "2000-02-28T21:34:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-ignorant-type-of-question/744/1 "2000-02-28T21:34:00Z")
In the ["][http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a890630b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a890630b.html)]]( [url="[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a890630b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a890630b.html)) water question, Cecil makes the following statement:
> [@](#):
>
> The only others I know of that expand when they freeze are cast iron and type metal, the lead alloy used in Linotype machines.
Forgive my ignorance, but what the hell is ‘type’ metal? Besides, that is, that it is a lead alloy. Is it something used exclusively in the typesetting business? Which came first, ‘type’ the metal or ‘type’ the verb? What does a chunk of it look like? And why is it important for the typesetting business that it has that property? Is it used for anything else?
Of course, there is the very likely possibility that it is a joke. But if it is, I am still ignorant in that I just don’t get it.
## Either way, if I get an answer to this post, I am one bit of ignorance closer to _pariniervana_. Any help out there? Thanks!
Once in a while you can get shown the light
in the strangest of places
if you look at it right…
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-ignorant-type-of-question/744/2 "2000-02-28T21:40:00Z")
Sorry, try http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a890630b.html ] this for the link.
* * *
Once in a while you can get shown the light
in the strangest of places
if you look at it right…
---
### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-ignorant-type-of-question/744/3 "2000-02-28T21:42:00Z")
…speaking of ignorance. Sorry. I hope you are able to figure out my pathetic attempts at linking.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-ignorant-type-of-question/744/4 "2000-02-28T23:40:00Z")
Get rid of the spaces to make your link work correctly.
e.g.
[water](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a890630b.html)
will show up as
[water](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a890630b.html)
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### Author:  [@NickyLarson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickyLarson)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2000, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-ignorant-type-of-question/744/5 "2000-02-29T00:43:00Z")
(putting on my square white printers cap)
Type Metal is composed of lead, tin and antimony. I used to know the percentage of each, it’s mostly lead, 80-85%, maybe 10-15% tin and 5-10% antimony. And no, I do not know what antimoy is, and I’m so not sure I’m even spelling it right.
But that’s what I remember from my early days as a printer.
I’ll go look up antimony now.
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If it jams, force it; if it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.
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### Author:  [@NickyLarson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickyLarson)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2000, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-ignorant-type-of-question/744/6 "2000-02-29T00:46:00Z")
And here we go:
[http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/elements/antimony/antimony.htm](http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/elements/antimony/antimony.htm)
I hope the link works.
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If it jams, force it; if it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.
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### Author:  [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2000, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-ignorant-type-of-question/744/7 "2000-02-29T01:31:00Z")
I’m sure everyone here knows that Johannes Gutenberg didn’t invent printing, as we often hear. What he did was perfect various partial technologies and bring them together for the first time. Of all of Gutenberg’s contributions, the two that were truly unique were the variable-width mold and the alloy we’re discussing. The mold has seen many changes in the last 500+ years, but type is still molded, to this very day, in the alloy Gutenberg first mixed. After all, Gutenberg started his professional life as a metallurgist.
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2000, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-ignorant-type-of-question/744/8 "2000-02-29T15:41:00Z")
thanks for the type info and the link help.
As for the type, was Gutenberg the first to call his metal ‘type’?
* * *
Once in a while you can get shown the light
in the strangest of places
if you look at it right…
---
### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2000, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-ignorant-type-of-question/744/9 "2000-03-01T06:04:00Z")
It comes from Greek “typos”, and has hundreds of meanings, starting from “a blow”, to “a mark made by a blow”, “a figure”, “a symbol”… “Type” (the other meaning), “archetype”, “typical”… They’re all related.
* * *
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams