Digraphs in the gossip column
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Today's xkcd — "Linguistics Gossip":
The mouseover title: "The E's wedding invitation definitely used the word LOVE more times than was strictly necessary."
As the explain xkcd wiki explains, AR and VE are not (?) actual typographical ligatures, but just potential couplings.
Jerry Packard said,
April 15, 2023 @ 3:38 pm
The A was more of a misfit than the E, so it felt a greater need to accommodate. The E, on the other hand, saw itself as perfect, and so felt no need to accommodate. This does not bode well for the VE marriage.
-as- said,
April 15, 2023 @ 4:03 pm
E had been seen in the company of O not just once before, so this news doesn't totally surprise me.
J.W. Brewer said,
April 15, 2023 @ 4:59 pm
Orthographic digraphs need not (and in English, are usually not) be represented as scribal/typographic ligatures. Muddling up the two separate-albeit-not-entirely-unrelated phenomena is probably not a good basis for an enduring romantic relationship.
Dwight Williams said,
April 15, 2023 @ 8:47 pm
I am starting to love ligatures as a general practice in type design, to be honest.
Lars said,
April 15, 2023 @ 10:32 pm
I saw the AR ligature and immediately thought about the (archaic) Cyrillic Yus.
Jerry Packard said,
April 16, 2023 @ 6:46 pm
@ -as-
Yes! Priceless!