Saturday, March 27, 2010

You Down with OED? Yeah You Know Me

Quick multiple choice trivia question for those who love arcane facts... or for those hardcore palaeotypographists out there:

According to a 1688 quotation in the Oxford English Dictionary, what is the typography-related definition of bake?

A. “When Letters stick together in distributing… This is called the Letter is Baked.”
B. “Moulten lead overpours the cast... It is said the Letter is Baked.”
C. “A blank left in printing through the accidental covering of a portion of the ‘forme’ by the frisket. … This is called the Forme is Baked.”
D. “Melting of damaged or discarded sorts… This is to bake the Hellbox.”

Nick Martens explores this and other fun, archaic printing terms found in the OED over at the Bygone Bureau. Oh, and you can find the answer there, too.

No comments:

Post a Comment