Comments on: The Language Of Printing https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/01/30/the-language-of-printing/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Fri, 31 Jan 2020 14:54:47 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Andrew Areoff https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/01/30/the-language-of-printing/#comment-1328651 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 14:54:47 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=175203#comment-1328651 Wonderful post and as someone who grew up in a print shop I have the smell of ink in my nostrils and paper cuts between my toes. Only one of them is actually true!

One term that is missing, and this is by no means a criticism, is ‘printer’s devil’ – I have a t-shirt with this term on it complete with a wicked illustration of a devil. From the amazing Hamilton Wood Type Museum in the US – look it up! Anyway, the printer’s devil was a child who had the unenviable task of crawling under the printing machines to retrieve type, tools, paper and anything else that fell through the presses onto the floor. What a mucky, and of course, dangerous job!

]]> By: Jonathan Madden https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/01/30/the-language-of-printing/#comment-1328634 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 11:25:16 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=175203#comment-1328634 Great post and something I shall be attending. Wile I was at the LCP I learn letterpress printing and composing and learnt to admire the printers craft. Another term we used was ‘Muttons and Nuts’ which was jargon for different widths of letter spacing if I’ve remembered it correctly!

]]> By: Alfred Hathcock https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/01/30/the-language-of-printing/#comment-1328562 Thu, 30 Jan 2020 14:45:23 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=175203#comment-1328562 Are bottle necked and bottle arsed definitions reversed in the definitions?

]]> By: David Green https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/01/30/the-language-of-printing/#comment-1328560 Thu, 30 Jan 2020 14:18:55 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=175203#comment-1328560 As someone who has been in the printing trade for 30 years, this is a delight for me to read.

]]> By: paul loften https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/01/30/the-language-of-printing/#comment-1328553 Thu, 30 Jan 2020 12:08:26 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=175203#comment-1328553 When I was at school in Bethnal Green in around 68 a lot of the lads in the 5th year aged around 16 left for jobs in the print . I recall most of them were very bright and talented and could have gone on to university but if your dad was in the print that was a great job and most of them took it. Possibly the best you could have if you were working class as was a closed shop. Natsopa and Sogat ran the show. I recall I had an offer from a friend that they possibly could get me a job which was like gold dust. I was tempted until I heard about the initiation ceremony that he had to go through. I can’t repeat it here ! I declined and went on to the sixth form and then took a job in the City, which was the usual option for those in the sixth form if they did not go to uni. As it turned out it was the best option for me. Once computerised the print jobs vanished as did Fleet Street. Thank you the legendary Gary Arber and GA for bringing this aspect of the print trade to us

]]> By: Colin Cohen https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/01/30/the-language-of-printing/#comment-1328551 Thu, 30 Jan 2020 11:34:25 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=175203#comment-1328551 Interesting list, a long time since I’ve seen ‘Southward’ and I was surprised I only knew about two-thirds of the terms. I worked in a very traditional letterpress house, but most of them had fallen out of use by the ’60s

]]> By: Lynne Perrella https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/01/30/the-language-of-printing/#comment-1328550 Thu, 30 Jan 2020 11:12:04 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=175203#comment-1328550 Oh boy — the mother lode. (wait – was that on the list……?) I love specialized language and
arcane terms from all professions. This is a total gem. Back when dinosaurs walked the earth
(in my childhood) all Pittsburgh school children were taken “down town” to the Make-Ready Room of The Pittsburgh Press. I still recall seeing the permanently-stained fingers of the men, inserting letters at breakneck speed. And somehow the smell of the place has stayed with me. A mix
of metallic grit, glorious newsprint, wooden floorboards sodden with ink, and good old fashioned
industrial Pittsburgh grime! And, yes, back then we had SEVERAL daily newspapers.
Thank you for divulging this distinctive language, GA.

]]> By: Mathilde Grange https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/01/30/the-language-of-printing/#comment-1328547 Thu, 30 Jan 2020 09:44:34 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=175203#comment-1328547 As a translator, and a lover of words, it’s a marvellous list. Thanks, G.A.

]]> By: Helen Breen https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/01/30/the-language-of-printing/#comment-1328546 Thu, 30 Jan 2020 09:43:12 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=175203#comment-1328546 Greetings from Boston,

GA, what a fabulous, entertaining selection of terms from Southward’s “Dictionary of Typography.” I always learn something new on SPITALSFIELD’S LIFE.

Obviously, these printers were readers too, eh?

]]> By: Anne Spencer https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/01/30/the-language-of-printing/#comment-1328543 Thu, 30 Jan 2020 09:28:17 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=175203#comment-1328543 Very interesting exhibition, I can recommend.
I remembered reading about Gary Arber in your previous post!

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