# Irritating typographical clichés of our time. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 28, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204 "2008-04-28T12:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a8b319/32.png) [@Eben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eben)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/41 "2008-04-29T17:34:46Z")
I like comic sans. For the masses it provides good readability without looking too formal and stuffy. YMMV, natch. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/42 "2008-04-29T18:13:42Z")
All typographic creativity gets copied because it looks good. Copy it often enough, it becomes a cliche. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t still look good. This deserves a thread? ---
**Author:** ![Kaschua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Kaschua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaschua)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/43 "2008-04-29T19:35:52Z")
The “foot” and “inch” marks are called prime and double prime respectively. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/44 "2008-04-29T19:59:20Z")
[QUOTE=Pranky] Magnetout: Yes that’s what I’m referring to. It’s very prevalent on signs for restaurants and such… a place called Nancy’s using a vertical foot mark where an apostrophe should be used. In an email or board post I don’t care. When it’s someone’s business sign that I’d assume they’d have pride in (and presumably paid a bad graphic designer to execute), it irritates me. [/QUOTE] It isn’t going away soon on the web. Smart quotes aren’t rendered in plain text - they just show the blank box that is the default character for ‘I dunno what the hell this is, let’s put a placeholder’. I have spent so much time removing all those characters from MS Word documents so I can supply plain text to people who refuse to move to a system where they can use Unicode. I spend my days being a liaison between designers and geeks and doing designs -\> webpages. It’s kinda interesting having a foot in both worlds! ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/45 "2008-04-29T20:25:16Z")
I am amused to see the poster **Colophon** in a thread about typography. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/46 "2008-04-29T20:32:55Z")
Once upon a time, [all _clichés_ were typographical](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cliche). ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/47 "2008-04-29T22:44:24Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] Once upon a time, [all _clichés_ were typographical](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cliche). [/QUOTE] Now THAT post is full of win. [/irritating lolcat cliche] ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/48 "2008-04-30T11:32:38Z")
Thank goodness they stopped, but ESPN2 used to place capital letters randomly within names of teams or players. Look, mIchiGan sTatE is playing nOrtHwesteRn. Ugh! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/49 "2008-04-30T11:40:41Z")
[QUOTE=Askance] **Too much Papyrus** , in [boardgames](http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/21635). **Papyrus, The Font That Jesus Used** , in the [movies](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f2_ZWT6Ly0). [/QUOTE] Times Roman and Helvetica _everygoddamwhere_ in any movie with a setting anywhere after 1900. ---
**Author:** ![williamweigand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/50 "2008-04-30T12:21:31Z")
I seem to have gotten used to it, but I used to be irritated when dots replaced dashes in phone numbers and slashes in dates. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/51 "2008-04-30T21:07:16Z")
[QUOTE=Eben] I like comic sans. For the masses it provides good readability without looking too formal and stuffy. YMMV, natch. [/QUOTE] Well, ain’t that precious. [Here’s what everyone else thinks.](http://achewood.com/index.php?date=07052007) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/52 "2008-05-01T07:26:31Z")
Well, to be honest, I think the hatred for Comic Sans is way out of proportion with the problem. It’s a font. Maybe not a particularly pretty one (although it looks kinda OK in comics). If Comic Sans didn’t exist, it would be necessary to invent it - people would just be abusing and over-using some other ‘friendly’ font instead. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/53 "2008-05-01T07:42:38Z")
Everyone knows that [Trajan is the movie font](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t87QKdOJNv8). ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/54 "2008-05-01T08:02:20Z")
Remember when every damn flavor of junk food or pop was _ **Xtreme!** _ ? . ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/55 "2008-05-01T11:28:19Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Sensitive] Everyone knows that [Trajan is the movie font](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t87QKdOJNv8). [/QUOTE] Given the font of “Goodie Bag” this man has no right to be talking. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/56 "2008-05-01T13:23:45Z")
[QUOTE=williamweigand] I seem to have gotten used to it, but I used to be irritated when dots replaced dashes in phone numbers and slashes in dates. [/QUOTE] I haven’t gotten used to it. Let’s show everyone how very, very techie we are by using [1.800.look.at.me](http://1.800.look.at.me). I understand it’s to save space on a cell phone screen when texting. Big whoop. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/57 "2008-05-01T14:02:32Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagirl] I haven’t gotten used to it. Let’s show everyone how very, very techie we are by using [1.800.look.at.me](http://1.800.look.at.me). I understand it’s to save space on a cell phone screen when texting. Big whoop. [/QUOTE] Dots instead of dashes for phone numbers have been in design for a long time before cell phones came about. Personally, I like it. It looks nicer (to me, obviously). ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/58 "2008-05-01T14:38:52Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] Awesome post. I am ashamed to say I never got that there is a double message in those ads until just now. [/QUOTE] There aren’t. At least, not usually. I always find myself reading the highlighted words alone, trying to figure out WHY they highlighted them. I mean, they must be some sneaky, albeit cliche, way of adding another layer of meaning to the advertisement, right? Or else, what’s the point? Alas, no. Afterwards, I always feel like that kid on _A Christmas Story_, who found out his secret decoder ring was just another way to advertise to kids. Although here it just turns out there was nothing to decode after all. What a waste. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/59 "2008-05-01T14:49:38Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Sensitive] Everyone knows that [Trajan is the movie font](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t87QKdOJNv8). [/QUOTE] I can understand getting worked up if a typeface is used in settings in which it is unsuitable. But if it’s just _popular_? Who cares? If a typeface is used appropriately, most people shouldn’t notice the typeface. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/60 "2008-05-01T14:58:42Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] Another thing that’s kind of annoying - and, it seems, a favourite technique of advertising copywriters - is the use of blocks of text consisting of a stream of copy about the product, with (and here’s the clever bit) certainseemingly random words picked out and highlighted in order to cunningly spell out another, more concise, sentence. Yes it was clever at first, but not any more. Please, for the love of God, make it stop. Now. [/QUOTE] Best ever example of something like that: > **[James May](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_May#Dismissal_from_Autocar_magazine)** > > Former employers: > James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter, author and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter, alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, of the motoring programme Top Gear from 2003 until 2015 and the television series The Grand Tour for Amazon Prime Video from 2016 to 2024. He also served as a director of the production company W. Chump & Sons. > May has presented other programmes on themes including travel, science and technolog... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204.md?page=4)