F F K ...
The word ligature
means “tied together,” from the Latin ligare,
“to bind” (and which forms the basis for the ligament tying muscle to bone.
In typography, ligatures are used to both save space and
provide a fluid transition from one letter to the next, especially in cases
where parts of those letters may clash in close proximity. They’ve been around
as long as letters have been printed.
If you think ligatures look a bit odd, and don’t think they
are used much, consider the fl, which your eyes read as two separate letters,
but are in fact one glyph. You can set your word processing program to use
available ligatures. Certain ligatures can be found in your symbol menu, for
use in languages where the ligature is the preferred glyph in given words. In
British “encyclopædia,” for example; in “fœtus,” in “pædiatrics,”
in “onomatopœia.”
Font nerds, on the other hand, tend to notice instances
where ligatures aren’t used and ought to be. For example: my new book is being
set in Caslon Pro, an elegant body text with a solid pedigree. It has a nice
set of ligatures, but, distressingly, no Fi. As a result, the topmost arm of the
F appears to be having a very public spat with the dot of the i. Both jostle
for space that should only be occupied by one or the other.
When presented with such difficulties, we say this:
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