Today I laid my old coffee maker to rest. From my best guess, I think it dates back to the late 80s, when my husband brought it home from work. His district manager said that the thing had sat in a box for months and apparently no one was going to use it, so just get it out of there. Neither of us drink coffee, but I used it for brewing tea. Once, we broke the carafe and I was able to buy a replacement. When we broke the carafe again this week, I discovered that this model is so old that the replacements just aren’t going to fit. With great glee I discovered that I could buy a Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker for about $9 more than I would have paid for the replacement carafe, and it’s what I really need in the first place.
Tonight I took it out of the box, thoroughly read the destructions (that’s what my husband and I call instructions, after one of the older kids who always said it when they were little), and put it to use. I was proudly showing my husband my clever little gadget, when I said, “Oh, look – Tempus Sans ITC!”
“What?” he said.
“You know, Tempus Sans ITC?”
“No, I don’t know.”
“The font. They used Tempus Sans ITC. On the iced tea maker. See?”
“Other people don’t know the names of fonts.”
“Yes, they do. At least I think they do.”
“No, they don’t. It’s just you.”
Is it just me? Isn’t there one of you who would have said, “Oh, yeah. That is so totally Tempus Sans ITC.”? Here’s a picture I snagged off of ebay of the box. Tempus Sans ITC. Well, except for that funky curly “C” they added to “ICED.”
I am issuing a challenge to my husband: If no one leaves a comment that they would have also known the font, I will concede that he is right (he has made this comment about no one else being so interested in fonts before). If such a comment does appear, however, I challenge him to actually leave a comment on my blog.
I have emailed him this post, which was the first time I visited Callapidder Days and decided Katrina’s husband was one cool guy. No luck. My blog is his homepage at work and he even emails me his results for my lame blogthings quizzes, but still no posted comment. Good grief – Great Scot is a contributor at The Beehive, and Barb’s husband even has his own blog (well, even the dog has her own blog in Barb‘s family, but that’s beside the point).
The thing is, my husband won’t see this until he goes to work Monday morning, and by then I’m counting on one of you, my geeky blogging friends, to have assured my victory! Mwahahaha!
Well Dawn, I wouldn’t have recognized anything other than Comic Sans MS because that is the only font I ever use, I just like it so much…I might have to explore these other four hundred sixty-two font choices on this computer.
B—- wins this one if it’s left to me. There are only about 3 fonts I would recognize.
Don’t you love how you keep the “kiddie” words throughout the years? We even keep a couple my neice said! The one we use the most is ” I You” which Courtney said for “I love you”.
I wouldn’t have recognized the font on the box unless it was Comic Sans…does that count? At least I know a font! At least your husband visits your blog. Mine doesn’t even do that. He’s just not a “blogger” he says. Think of that!!
First of all: “destructions” WE say that also! Firstborn used that world when he was little and just stuck.
Secondly: I can recognize about 15 fonts (Comic Sans one of them).
That font on the box? Nay, that’s just you, sorry
😀
HAHAHAHA!
Oh my gosh, you crack me up! Chelsea does NOT have her own blog. Yet. We’re working on it. Hee hee.
Boy, I hate to do this but I so would not have recognized that font. I’ll admit this though. I’d have recognized a lot of other fonts. It’s too bad the box wasn’t written in Bodoni-DTC. So you and hubby can argue over who gets the point from me.
I’m still shaking my head that you guys don’t drink coffee. That’s just wrong. You obviously just haven’t had a good cup of coffee. Ever.
I’m laughing my head off at this post but I’ll admit I’m curious to see who wins this one.
Alright. I’ll bite … you knew I would. In the Mac world that font is Present … and I know the fonts on most of the TV shows … and on most of the magazine titles and I especially enjoy going to borders to look through the many magazines to see which fonts are “hot” this year.
geek.
AND just so he’ll know that you didn’t set me up for this … I KNOW that he knows what a font geek I am now … I know that YOUR title is a Zapf something, but haven’t narrowed it down … and your signature is probably Bickley or Caflisch Script (in the Mac world).
Shoot me now before I get in any deeper and you guys lose all respect …
Yea, Gail! I was counting on you – and I respect you immensely!
While I admit that I’m a font-geek, I don’t think I could have named Tempus Sans ITC. So I’m impressed. But I’ve done the same as you in the past – “Hey, honey, doesn’t this writing look just like that Papyrus font?”… to which I receive a blank stare that tells me I have exceeded his geek-tolerance-level for the day.
Oh – and thanks for calling my hubby “one cool guy.” I think so too! 🙂 Sorry that your husband wasn’t inspired to comment…yet. Give him time – maybe he’ll come around!
How funny! I’m in the Comic Sans group. I’ve used many different fonts in publishing our church newsletter, but I can’t say I would recognize them by name. My hubby probably would.
I do have a Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker, if that’s any consolation. :o)
I confess that I am a font geek, too. It occurred to me a while back that our friends are as weird as we are — several of them have actually walked in our dining room and asked what font I used for the blessing stencilled around the top of the room (it’s Tolkein, thankyouverymuch). Now, I suspect not many people have the sort of friends who would care… but we do. I don’t know what that says about us, and huh, I don’t really care. Fonts are COOL. And so are YOU, Dawn!
(you got that, Bunny Man? heh heh)
So, though I don’t think I would have known this exact font, I could name quite a few others.
Okay, I confess that for a moment I looked at my cousin Queen Shenaynay’s Bunny Man comment and went, “HUH?” before I realized that she is one of the few people outside of immediate family who knows my nickname for my husband (and no, it isn’t actually “bunny man”)! Years ago, on an email loop she moderates, I accidentally sent a personal message to my husband to the entire loop. Fortunately, I didn’t embarrass us too badly, but we got a lot of ribbing about the nickname, both on the loop and in person.
I am upping my challenge (since Gail’s Mac version of Tempus Sans ITC should surely suffice): post a comment using your nickname. Pretty please. With a cherry on top.
I also just realized that a lot of my fonts disappeared when I reformatted a couple of weeks ago, including Tolkein and Czar, a Russian font which mysteriously appeared on my computer at the same time my son and I agreed I would teach him Russian this year.
I am continually driving the IT guys at work nuts by my insistance on the use of a greater variety of fonts. They either have zero artistic genes or they are just overloaded with testosterone and only want MANLY fonts like Times New Roman or Arial.
But as for the font recognition? Sorry. I’m not your gal…
Okay Babe, It looks like you are an even bigger GEEK than I thought. I very much enjoy reading you blogs and sometimes find out what is going on in my own household by doing so. I fully understand and expect nothing short of total font geekness form Gail. But Dawn, I do worry about sanity.
Love ya, Bunny
During the 90’s I could have named many fonts in two different languages as I did quite a bit of DTP and especially the customizing of business cards, in English and in Japanese.
No I do not find it unusual for a person to recognize and name a font. I know several people who can also and they are not geeks per se, just talented computer graphic artists, layout artists and journalists.
My name is Jan, and I am a FontaHolic. Thank you for sharing.
At least FontaHolic is what we call ourselves at meetings. Politically Correct and all that. Fact is, I am a Type A Junkie and have been since I was 8, when my grandmother gave me a book on the alphabet that included ‘proofs’ of several dozen typesetter’s faces. Goudy. Bodoni. Univers. Garamond.
These were the words of poetry. From that tender age (and to give you an idea of how LONG ago that might be, I was born during the Roosevelt Administration noted for its brevity … work THAT one out!) I learned that it wasn’t just WHAT you said but HOW you said it, and that especially applied to written text.
I now have many, MANY CDs of fonts, including several I have compiled myself, categorising them into groups of my own choosing (ethnic-styled as well as foreign language fonts, dingbats (make great art & logos), handprinting, calligraphy, period style — I don’t have to tell YOU!).
Tempus Sans ITC I may not have named as such, as I long ago determined that keeping track of a name AND its foundry was beyond my ken. Close-enough metrics would be called something else by another creator. Look at Zephyr & Mistral. Both winds, same style. ‘Tempus’ brings to my mind’s eye a style called ‘New Day’ — same idea.
I do the font recognition thing with restaurant menus, and am joined in my addiction with fellow members of my local Macintosh Users’ Group — junkies all. We also critique said layouts on their choices — Brush script at 9 pt! Even WITH glasses we can’t read it, and this in a darkened room! What ARE they thinking?
So, Dearest, your secret is safe with moi.
Thanks for letting me share.
HOW DID I MISS THIS POST? Must have been the lack of a schedule during the holidays.
GIRL…I’m there with ya! I knew that font! I, like Gail, can also quote the fonts on TV show names, commercials, etc. Jay calls me a nerd everytime I do so. I could probably name about 20-30 fonts by sight, but of course that is only because I am truly a font nerd. I just uploaded about 30 more last night from dafont.com and fontgarden.com because I lost my old ones when we switched computers as well.
OK, so you recognize Tempus Sans ITC. How about Papyrus (my favorite), or Gill Sans, or Stone Sans, Garamond Premier Pro, Zapfino, Brighton, Impact, Bible Script, Novarese, or Edwardian Script? Or a hundred or so others?
I don’t really think of myself as a font freak, but I do have over 6,000 fonts. I don’t know nearly all of them, but I’ve been using fonts for over 35 years, so I do knoover a hundred.