Minichan

Topic: When did the curved "S" go out of uſe in writing and typography?

Anonymous A started this discussion 15 years ago #866

The curved "S" waſ uſed extenſively to write the Conſtitution of the United Stateſ. What happened to it?

Anonymous B joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 1 minute later[^] [v] #17,074

It's retarded.

Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 13 seconds later, 1 minute after the original post[^] [v] #17,076

It was that only the final s in a word was that way, but over time, people figured out that they did not need that to understand the word. It comes from a tradition in ancient languages where every letter had a different form whether it were at the beginning of word, in the middle, or the end. Some modern languages still have this, like Arabic.

Anonymous E joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 1 minute later, 2 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,081

It i∫ a my∫tery

Anonymous F joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 19 seconds later, 3 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,082

@17,076 (Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih)
I think you're wrong.

Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih replied with this 15 years ago, 32 seconds later, 3 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,083

@previous (F)
I am correct. But if you have anything to add, please do.

Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 3 minutes later, 7 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,094

@17,076 (Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih)
So why waſ the long "S" used, then very ſuddenly ditched?

Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih replied with this 15 years ago, 1 minute later, 8 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,098

@previous (A)
Originally, ancient languages (many of them) had different forms for letters depending on where they were in the word. Presumably, this was to avoid ambiguity. But it turns out that this was not needed to understand words. So, they dropped out.

Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 34 seconds later, 9 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,100

@previous (Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih)
But when waſ it dropped, and why ſo ſuddenly?

Anonymous F replied with this 15 years ago, 46 seconds later, 9 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,104

@17,098 (Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih)
You're still very wrong. Go back to school, you fat turd.

Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih replied with this 15 years ago, 1 minute later, 11 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,110

@17,100 (A)
I do not think it was all that sudden.

Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 45 seconds later, 12 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,111

@previous (Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih)
It waſn't?

Could you give me a timeline aſ to when the "ſ" was phaſed out?

Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih replied with this 15 years ago, 51 seconds later, 13 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,114

@previous (A)
Offhand, without doing research, I *think* it dropped from printed English from about 1600 to about 1700.

Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 1 minute later, 14 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,117

@previous (Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih)
But the "ſ" iſ uſed in the United Stateſ Conſtitution, which waſ written in 1789…

Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih replied with this 15 years ago, 37 seconds later, 15 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,120

@previous (A)
Fair enough. Now, they may have used it to be more formal for official government documents, but I am not sure to be honest.

Anonymous F replied with this 15 years ago, 9 seconds later, 15 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,121

@17,114 (Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih)
Wrong.

Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 25 seconds later, 16 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,122

@17,120 (Kody R. Bearâ„¢ !!F0+vKzoih)
I'm going to have to look thiſ up…

Anonymous E replied with this 15 years ago, 8 minutes later, 24 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,132

@previous (A)
Wiki has a whole article on it.

The long s fell out of use in roman and italic typefaces well before the middle of the 19th century. In Spain the change was mainly accomplished between the years 1760 and 1766; in France, the change occurred between 1782 and 1793; in Britain and the United States, between 1795 and 1810. For example, in Spain, the multi-volume work España Sagrada made the switch with volume 16 (1762); The Times of London switched to the short s with its issue of September 10, 1803; and in the United States, acts of Congress were published with the long s through 1803, switching to the short s in 1804.


It looks like it fell out of English use in print around 1800. DM doesn't trust Wikipedia though, so maybe you should take his obviously wrong answer as completely authoritative in this case.

Fake anon !ZkUt8arUCU joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 2 minutes later, 26 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,134

@previous (E)
0/10 troll. Too obvious.

Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 13 seconds later, 26 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #17,135

@17,132 (E)
Okay, so the general consensus amongst historians is that the long "S" died in 1804.

Thanks!

Anonymous H joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 1 hour later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #17,259

Why did þe þorn go away?

Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #17,262

@previous (H)
Oh, now that's just silly. Everybody knows the "th" in "the" is pronounced nothing like the "th" in "thorn"!

Triptych !!DP4/G/5A6 joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 3 hours later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #17,617

I always read the long s as an f...

Anonymous J joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 4 minutes later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #17,618

it looks like a retarded l
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