You must have been pretty flushed to get that ragged. Right? :-)

ChrisL

Nice one Paul.

You know you're a typoholic when...
you're so busy concentrating on the typeface painted on the truck beside you that you miss your highway exit and have to drive 10 kms to the next exit and turn around.
(Did that yesterday and did not laugh at myself).

Your boss threatens to fire you for even kerning a half assed headline, but you continue any way, increasing said boss's anger. You just do it!

The Truth shall set you free

When you have yelling matches with the proofreader about use of en spaces versus thin spaces.

When you've been doing this for over 30 years and you realize you've never used Helvetica (or plan to).

...when you go to the pub at lunchtime to watch the Mexico v Angola match and spend most of the game discussing the Puma Pace font's diacritics with your Angolan co-worker.

...threads such as this one make you smile and you get all warm and fuzzy from being able to relate.

... when you completely forget to slow down at the sight of a new speed limit because in your head you're comparing the two different versions of DIN printed onto the two traffic signs you've seen ...

Geez, driving and typography don't mix!

You know you are a Typoholic when someone is talking about Type A and Type B personalities, you think about which font to use for the A and B :-)

ChrisL

Or when somebody asks you what's your blood type, you reply "yes".

hhp

And when they want you to immediately sign off on that
blood transfusion, you start going on about how amazing
Linotype Sangue is.

hhp

...when you make note of every type designers' birthdate. : )

Andi--Do you have them listed in your iCal?

ChrisL

ok, slightly embarrassing, but I almost did not go on the first date with my boyfriend because the first courting email he sent came to my mailbox in....COMIC SANS. only after my best friend told me to stop being such a "font tool" did I decide to accept his wooing. lucky i listend to my best friend and not my typophilic tendencies. he, BTW, finds this little story completely hilarious.

amyp,

I once had a girl who sent me an e-mail set on Monotype Corsiva and Impact, in Bright pink background and ecletic variation of font size (a la MySpace design aesthetics).

My reply said "Tschichold would be proud." Set in Outlook's default font stripped of all its formatting.

And she was not a designer.

That's when you know that you're a typoholic.

Font selection says a lot about a person, Amy. I'm glad you date him, but your friends really shouldn't have called you a tool. ;^)

Man, I really, really, don't belong here.

ER

...when your partner points out poorly set type for your appreciation.

having said that I don't really conside rmyself a typoholic ... yes still in the denial stage ... nor do i consider myself GREAT at typography, that'll change. :)

----------
Paul Ducco
Solid Creative
Communication Design, Melbourne

Yes, Chris, I do have them listed in my iCal. I *am* a typoholic.

... when you are reading "The Education of a Typographer" by Steven Heller before you go to bed and you turn to your husband and ask him if you can read him a really interesting excerpt and when you turn back again, he's asleep.

Your teenage son cracks up when you extol the virtues of PMN Caecilia on the Panera Bread in-store signage. He asks "Are you a type nerd?". No, I say, a typophile. Which he says sounds like pedophile - all downhill from there.

When you refuse to work with a clients logo because of the horrible typography, so you change it for comps and switch it later.

…when you argue with the editor that the AP Manual's style for something is typographically incorrect, and have the research to prove it.

…when you know it's a sickness, and don't want a cure!

Andi,
My wife's comment to me is, "Don't you ever just read the words?"

ChrisL

My wife is much the same way, I think she is embarrassed when we go out at times.

Chris, that's a good question isn't it? One of my favourite quotes, by Beatrice Warde, is "People who love ideas must have a love of words. They will take a vivid interest in the clothes that words wear.” That's how I see it: We do see the words, but we see what they're wearing, too.

When my husband woke up the next morning and I told him that he had fallen asleep in the middle of my *extremely* interesting story, he replied with, "Honey, it's like you're reading from the Sears catalogue". I was completely shocked.

My Dad is a retired commercial airline pilot, and flying is his reason for being. I told him this weekend that when I was a kid I remember him and other pilots standing around at an outdoor party talking about the pros and cons of different types of propellers. I had always wondered why they cared so much. One day I realized I was just as excited about different types of serifs as they were about props. And my wife is the one who rolls her eyes now.

You're lying on a table in the Surgical Center awaiting your Doctor's arrival for a colonoscopy, and on the ceiling above you is sign telling of the dangers of COLONORECTAL CANCER, and the message of the sign doesn't seem as important as the fact didn't kern the TA, leaving the AL hanging almost as another word.

And you actually start wondering if you should tell someone so they can fix it...

Andi - I can't tell you how many close calls i've had on the 401 because i was obsessing over some aspect of the typography or logo on the truck beside me. I wonder if this is some sort of typographic natural selection at play..

That's an interesting concept, Ben. Mind you, I don't know how you drive on that 401 with all those lanes and collector lanes and big signage shouting at you from all sides - it's really too much distraction for me. I don't think I'd make it in the big city!

We really should stop. Let's talk about Che Guevara or something.

Brad, there's two nice threads on that subject. Go over there.

You know you're a typoholic when you've been away from your computer for a while and upon returning, you check the typophile.com site before you check your email.

We had one of these threads not long ago. It's mildly embarrassing. But I know participation is optional. It would be great if there were no more "colonrectal" allusions.

No need to pick on me. I've been traumatized enough for one day.
: )

When your younger son sends you a birthday present, and it's an antique brass plate of Newport uppercase letters he found in a junk shop!

That's a good son!
Read about mine - http://typophile.com/node/19321

I remember the thread, Brad (you must be a proud papa).

This all adds another level of font dysfunction to family photo albums.

Now this is a photo of junior, standing next to a poorly kerned commemorative plaque for the Battle of Gettysburg during our PA trip.

Hey, I always check typophile.com before my e-mail.

But that's probably because the new Hotmail (Windows Live Mail) logo is now set in Segoe UI (a.k.a. Frutiger lookalike), and is kerned too closely. Actually it really does open slowly.

Edit: I was referring to the e-mail page loading time when I typed "open slowly", it was not an allusion to the tightly kerned logotype seemingly moving apart.

Alright, I'm back in the spirit. You go see a movie because of a font.

That's the [type] spirit Brad!

You know you are a Typoholic when you deny that you are one.
My name is Magnus. I am not a Typoholic.

Of course not! Me neither by the way, I'm here because I have this huge crush on hrant.

I love you too, Demi.

hhp

Londontype, that's exactly what i always do! I'm like the only one who will always stay for the movie credits.

A world without typoholics is a world of Helvetica and Times.

Although I had a former prepress manager who said that if you can't design with Helvetica and Times, then you can't design.

Tim

Lore, now I'm heartbroken :-)

ChrisL

> ... a former prepress manager who said that if you can’t design with Helvetica and Times, then you can’t design.

Then I guess blokes like Bruce Rogers and Lucian Bernhard were just design hacks! (I know it doesn't purely follow the logic of the argument... but hey!)

Ah, but to rephrase Shaw:
Is it a sin to love more than one man?

hhp

>Then I guess blokes like Bruce Rogers and Lucian Bernhard were just design hacks! (I know it doesn’t purely follow the logic of the argument… but hey!)

You are right. I feel bad now. I should have said a world of Times New Roman and Arial.

Tim

Or you notice that the two o's in sign that says 'room' over the changing room were put on backwards...

You come up with typographic names for hip-hop acts like "Spurius G and the Small Caps".