# That weird lowercase "s" in old style type

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-weird-lowercase-s-in-old-style-type/345171>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 19, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-weird-lowercase-s-in-old-style-type/345171 "2006-02-19T05:05:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Gerome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gerome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerome)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-weird-lowercase-s-in-old-style-type/345171/1 "2006-02-19T05:05:51Z")

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What’s the story with that lowercase ‘s’ that looks like an ‘f’ in old documents and whatnot? Was it just the way they wrote ‘s’ back then or was it only used in specific circumstances?

Lastly…why?

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-weird-lowercase-s-in-old-style-type/345171/2 "2006-02-19T05:08:42Z")

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It’s called the “long s”:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long\_s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s)

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-weird-lowercase-s-in-old-style-type/345171/3 "2006-02-19T05:30:53Z")

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The Master speaks: [Why did 18th-century writers use F instead of S?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_110.html).