As visual communicators, words are very much our stock and trade. Over time, some words have changed in meaning or perception, while some are presently in an evolutionary state and are evolving into something that isn't what their original intent was. Some descriptive words have also evolved and became family surnames : Examples : Smith, Cooper, Carter,Brewer, Taylor, Butcher or Monger. One word that's presently taking on a new meaning is Marriage. Previously it was used to define the union of a male and female into a state of matrimony. In today's society, it's become under pressure from the LGBT people toward being ANY form of relationship between two conscenting adults.
How many of you have had to letter a company name on the door of a truck that included the name "Cartage" ? Originally, that was used to describe a business that delivered materials or finished goods in carts.
We're all familiar with the word "Teamster" and frequently associate that word with union members engaged in the transportation/logistics business. Originally it was used to describe men who drove a team of horses or other draft animals to haul heavy loads. As the heavy draft animals gave way to mechanical trucks, those men became truck drivers, but carried their identities with them into the industrial age.
Some words are on their way toward becoming extinct, like Caboose, Showcard, and farrier.
There are all of the newer words too, which are synomous with the age of the computer. Words like : Website, Digital, Backup, Virus, Twain, etc. These weren't around back when I first got involved with the sign business, but have become part of the everyday language.
Discuss ?
Posted by Preston McCall (Member # 351) on :
Interesting notions about words. Doctors seem to have a crazy use of words that are impossible to understand. Why can't they just say he had a heart attack rather than a ischemic transference or some sort of nonsense. Lawyers also have a way of making the language impossibly difficult to grasp.
"Grab a luco quill and bang out some 2 inch lick letters using a maul stick"....Everyone understands that.
Or how about the car business...."The trade was kinda back of rough book with a crack in the crystal and a slight giddyup in the grinder box...probably over on the miles and TMU, riding on bald skins with a slight pull to the left. Send it to the slammer chute, if we have to tailight it."
I have been writing some htmp/php files for a website this past week....Talk about impossible words to describe coding. As I get older, I am left feeling like a schoolkid trying to understand what the grownups are saying! Think I will stick to oil painting landscapes. www.McCallFineArt.com Posted by Rusty Bradley (Member # 6938) on :
Here's a word whose meaning has evolved considerably over the years..."gay"
Posted by Don Hulsey (Member # 128) on :
hashtag Tim McGraw - I miss back when...
Back when a hoe was a hoe Coke was a Coke and crack's what you were doin when you were crackin jokes. Back when a screw was a screw the wind was all that blew and when you said I'm down with that it meant you had the flu.
Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :
Hey Rusty: I'd almost forgotten what the word "gay" originally meant. I find it rather curious that this word has been appropriated by those folks who subscribe to that lifestyle to be descriptive of their state of being. On the other hand, they seemingly take great offence to the word "Queer", which is/was a perfectly descriptive word. I guess that they feel the description doesn't fit them.
Don: Tim McGraw has taken this subject and made it into a song that expressive some nostalgia of earlier times and social norms.
Preston: Yes, doctors and lawyers do tend to complicate the language to the point of average folk having difficulty in grasping their meaning. Have you ever tried to decipher a prescription ? I'm amazed that pharmacists are capable of reading what my doctor has written.
Posted by Dennis Kiernan (Member # 12202) on :
"Have you ever tried to decipher a prescription ? I'm amazed that pharmacists are capable of reading what my doctor has written." Maybe half the time they just fake it.
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
I guess that Shirley and I are very lucky..(And we are) Our young doctor has all our files on his computer and when we need prescription renewals, he just hits the "print" button and out comes a legible printed list of prescriptions. The only "illegible" part is his signature!!! LOL
Posted by Don Hulsey (Member # 128) on :
When we were kids all of my family, and a few teachers said my brother would probably be a doctor someday because no one could read his handwriting. He is still my older brother, but now he is also my dentist, and you still can't read his writing.
Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :
The thing about prescriptions, is this: If your doctor ever puts you on a medication that you have to take for the rest of your life, it can be quite disturbing when he issues you a prescription that has " No Refills " at the bottom of the script.
Posted by Brad Ferguson (Member # 33) on :
The word “font” has changed.
Sign painters were never asked to use a particular font because such a request would not have made sense. In fact, it was not a word they used, because it had little to do with hand lettering, though many sign makers who were familiar with printer terms knew what a font was. It was a collection of type—pieces of metal. These were kept in cases or drawers in print shops. Loaded onto a press by typesetters, the type from a font was used to print letters onto paper in a particular typestyle.
As metal type gave way to other forms of printing, a font eventually became the name for a piece of digital software to be loaded onto a computer. Technically, font is not a synonym for typestyle. A font is what is used to render a typestyle into print.
More recently, the distinction has blurred between the terms font and typestyle, and it is now common to hear the words used interchangeably.
Brad in Kansas City signbrad.com Posted by Dale Feicke (Member # 767) on :
And I think you could carry that one out even further, Brad.
It seemed that the term 'font', in the past, referred to a set of letters, designed or created by a professional designer......that had a distinctive look or shape.
Today, if you go on some of these font sites, you find a huge number of hand drawn, school-child lettered, brush painted, scribbled, cobbled, scratched, and unreadable...crap that was obviously "designed" by someone sitting at a tablet, trying to make a buck. The term 'professional designer' could not possibly enter in to some of the garbage that some sites refer to as a 'font'.
Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :
Here's another word that has evolved into another meaning : Sinister
The most common perception is someone shady, underhanded or untrustworthy. What it originally referred to was someone who was left-handed. In times past, the practice of shaking another person's hand was done with the right hand, to show that both parties were unarmed, and meant each other no harm.
Offering the left hand, meant that the "dominant hand" could still have access to a weapon, or could be rapidly used in an aggressive manner. A left-handed handshake wasn't to be trusted, and became synonomous with sinister or left-handed people.
Interestingly though, the sign trade has seen enough people who've plied the business with the handicapp of being "sinister". When one considers that our written language is designed to be read from left to right, One can readily see the difficulty that a "southpaw" might have in trying to hand letter. They'd be dragging their dominant hand through each line of lettering that they'd previously done. I've personally known a couple of guys who were sinister signpainters, but they really were the exception.
Posted by Curt Stenz (Member # 82) on :
As a leftie, I can agree with Ken's comment on dragging your hand thru the paint.
I started trying to letter when I was in high school using Speedball pens and ink, what a nightmare. I taught myself to work backwards (right to left) with mixed results. Had to layout everything with pencil, Have not used a Speedball for years now. My wife is exceptional with any pen or calligraphy nib. We used to do lots of sho-cards, but now days hardly anyone outside of this business even knows what they are!
When I started to use paint I just struggled along until I read "Practical Signshop Operation" by Ralph Gregory and discovered such a thing as the mahl stick.
Anyway, for some reason I still mainly work from right to left. When lettering a large sign or billboard I typically layout from left to right and then work backwards when lettering. If I am doing something quick I will put down horizontal layout lines and work left to right, but almost always, even when working when working from a pattern, I still go right to left. This crazy habit serves me well especially when lettering in reverse on glass.
Posted by Brad Ferguson (Member # 33) on :
In heraldry, sinister refers to the left side of a shield, dexter refers to the right side.
Both words get their original meanings from Latin.
Not only is being sinister now a bad thing, being dexterous is good.
Brad Signbrad Posted by Rusty Bradley (Member # 6938) on :
I always keep my left hand firmly gripped on my pistol whenever shaking hands with a client...never can be too safe.
Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
. . . how 'bout 'pounce'?
Almost no one in the world (but us) knows this has had a completely different meaning from it's first definition for over the course a few decades for sign crafters. Alas, our definition of pounce is slowly fadin' away, back to it's original meaning . . .
Meanwhile, perchance a customer does come in and can still see a pounce pattern in your shop, and ask HOW in the world you make all those little holes, I still like to reply,(because I still use the wheel, gasp!) . . .
"Oh, you would'nt believe HOW LONG it takes - you gotta use a straight-pin."
I love that surprised expression, then the incredulous doubt, 'NUH-uh, you have a tool . . . right?'
LOL Don! As soon as I saw this thread I thought of that same song!!
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
One of the overused words today is "per-fect" with a certain intonation. I hate it! I speak with office girls regularly that say that word at the conclusion of most of their sentences. Recently one said, "now what is your name?" I replied "Rick." She said "perfect." What if my parents had given me a different name?
Posted by Dale Feicke (Member # 767) on :
That's a good answer, Shiela. I always told people I poked 'em with an Xacto knife
I agree, Rick, that 'perfect' is a widely overused word. Thinking about it realistically, there are very few things that truly are.
We have some old friends up in Indiana, whose last name is "Perfect". One of the kids told us one time, how many different ways they had been ribbed about their name.
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