Typophile - Appropriate use of the ampersand - Comments

What a great thread. The

jayyy — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:27:15 -0700

What a great thread. The things you can find in the Typophile basement!

I had a discussion about this a week ago and based on my gut feeling removed a lot of ampersands from the body text of a resume, leaving some in headings, company names etc.

For me it is an aesthetic decision and I feel that ampersands in running texts are distracting and inappropriate.

As for the + symbol, quite pos+moderm I think :)

i often prefer to use a

Ch — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:47:51 -0800

i often prefer to use a +

cleaner, less filling.

I like that attitude. Me

Eben Sorkin — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:29:42 -0800

I like that attitude.

Me too.

Hmmm. The editing feature is

Renaissance Man — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 07:03:47 -0800

Hmmm. The editing feature is still not fixed. After I edited my post (adding “An excerpt from...”) I found and corrected the first bad link. By the time the edit was (re)posted, if appeared after Florian’s. Thanks, Florian, for beating me to my own correction!

I put out a newsletter I

Renaissance Man — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 06:51:56 -0800

I put out a newsletter I call &cetera.

Take a look at Allan Haley’s piece on the ampersand
here.

He did a longer piece for X-height magazine, but it seems to exist only in print. If anyone knows if and where it’s available online, I’d be most grateful.

An excerpt from Finer Points in the Spacing & Arrangement of Type on the ampersand is available here, about halfway down.

Hi Steve, your link is

Florian Hardwig — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 06:48:36 -0800

Hi Steve,

your link is broken. Here you go: ‘Ampersand’ by Allan Haley.
F

I would have to see it

fontplayer — Tue, 5 Feb 2008 21:41:46 -0800

I would have to see it before forming an opinion.

I like that attitude.

I would have to see it

Nick Shinn — Tue, 5 Feb 2008 21:33:40 -0800

I would have to see it before forming an opinion.

A creative director wants to

James Puckett — Tue, 5 Feb 2008 17:43:27 -0800

A creative director wants to lead a line with an ampersand and I flatly refuse.

Good for you; starting a line with an ampersand would be quite dreadful.

I avoid at all costs

Miss Tiffany — Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:54:44 -0800

I avoid at all costs starting a line with an ampersand. It is just as ugly as starting a line with a dash (of any length).

We’re actually having an

interrobang_lp — Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:50:12 -0800

We’re actually having an argument about this in the office now.

A creative director wants to lead a line with an ampersand and I flatly refuse.

The ampersand should be used judiciously, typically as has been mentioned in company names and the like, as well as where space constraints dictate, though this is more an issue in hot metal.

...& parrot that idea

fontplayer — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:22:43 -0700

...& parrot that idea without looking or thinking or feeling anthing much about it. They are just stupidly rigid. Goddam Chicago manual. Fpppht.

LOL.

Some ampersands are so pretty it seems a shame to sentence them (no pun intended) to the mired pit of correct usage.

And I’ve always been of the opinion that if you feel strongly about something, then play the tune. If enough people start marching, playing, or singing along with it you are a trend-setter, and not merely a rule-breaker.

Some valuable art and music exist because some rule was broken and a bunch of people said “YEAH!”

I have heard that the

Letterguess — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:46:44 -0700

I have heard that the ampersand is a combination of E and T, spelling the Latin word Et meaning “and.” Given that the form often looks like an E and T and the word Et is indeed Latin for “and,” that’s what I’m inclined to believe.
&&&&&&&&&&&&

Here’s a discussion on

rosendorf — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 10:49:35 -0800

Here’s a discussion on Blogdorf about the use of the ampersand & and
http://rosendorf.us/blogdorf/archive/2005/12/15/1257.aspx

~
Theodore Rosendorf
http://rosendorf.us

I say it’s probably a Fair

Eben Sorkin — Fri, 3 Jun 2005 10:36:50 -0700

I say it’s probably a Fair Use too. There might be a problem after a certain length of text.... But no worries. Thanks for the info all the same!

Appropriate use of the ampersand

Peter G. — Sat, 14 May 2005 14:45:04 -0700

I’ve got a question for all you typographers:
When is it, and when is it not, appropriate to use the ampersand character (&) instead of the actual word “and”?

{Moderator: Wiki link added.}