# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/61 "2008-05-01T15:03:30Z")
[QUOTE=DrCube] 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. [/QUOTE] In my experience there usually is a secondary meaning. I’ve seen at least three poster campaigns using the same technique in the past year or two. IIRC one was for vodka, one was for a car and the other for some kind of financial institution. But I can’t find any online. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/62 "2008-05-01T15:08:19Z")
[QUOTE=DrCube] 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. [/QUOTE] Interesting…now I’m going to of course check every one I see! ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/63 "2008-05-01T15:10:50Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] 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... [/QUOTE] Excellent! ---
**Author:** ![Viridiana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Viridiana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viridiana)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/64 "2008-05-01T17:51:53Z")
titles.separated.by.periods and C A P S . W I T H . E X T R A . S P A C E S ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/65 "2008-05-01T18:41:17Z")
[QUOTE=Viridiana] titles.separated.by.periods and C A P S . W I T H . E X T R A . S P A C E S [/QUOTE] Another reason the latter is annoying is that you can’t find it with a search. Your human brain can instantly see the words, but a searching computer sees only single letters. ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/66 "2008-05-01T18:42:38Z")
Also eye jarring to me is: george **washington** **irving** berlin and adolph **hitler** ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204/67 "2008-05-01T18:48:44Z")
A font walks into a bar. Right away, the bartender gives him the bum’s rush, saying “I better not see you in here again. We don’t serve your type here.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-typographical-cliches-of-our-time/447204.md?page=3)