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Most sans serif typefaces have an uppercase I that is just a vertical bar. Most (all?) serif typefaces have horizontal bars/serifs on the top and bottom of the uppercase I.
Is there a term for the seemingly rarer case when a sans serif typeface has an uppercase I WITH bars such as in this example?
25 May 2008 — 4:11pm
May be serifed I?
Many sans serif typefaces have these slabs even on the letters like i, j, l and 1 as well. There must be some terminology.
25 May 2008 — 5:13pm
They are serifs.
25 May 2008 — 9:17pm
I don't think there is a term specifically for this, and perhaps there should be. Many all-caps comic fonts have both kinds, so that the serifed I can be used for the personal pronoun "I" while the plain I is used in other words; I believe Charles Schulz was the first to adhere to this practice consistently in his hand lettering.
25 May 2008 — 9:49pm
am I the only one that was half-expecting a typography-related joke when clicking on this thread?
come on, What do you call an 'I' with bars?
I don't know, what?
25 May 2008 — 11:22pm
According to David Berlow, those faces are some-serifs.
Another related thread: How does the serif on a sans-serif i increase legibility/readability?
26 May 2008 — 5:26am
come on, What do you call an ’I’ with bars?
Perhaps an isobar.
26 May 2008 — 5:27am
"barbarism" sounds a bit too negative :-)
26 May 2008 — 8:37am
iBar is already used.
26 May 2008 — 5:39pm
"They are serifs."
Nah, that's too obvious. If there's no term, then we need to invent one. ;o)
26 May 2008 — 5:42pm
how about 'iddles' for the name of the serifs in 'I's
26 May 2008 — 7:22pm
So, to be clear, I think what we're looking for is a word for "a serif that is thought of as a normal feature of a character even in an otherwise sans-serif context."
I suggest something like obserif, short for obdurate serif (or obstinate, or even obligatory).
27 May 2008 — 6:13am
How about repossessing a term engineers took from typography - the I-Beam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:I-Beam_002.JPG
The glyph might be called Beamed-I ?
27 May 2008 — 6:41am
I work with a lot of educational publishers (where this comes up often re: the whole 2nd-grade letterform split), and editors usually mark it up as a "serif I". Granted, editors might not be the best people for naming these things, but at least we understood them.
27 May 2008 — 12:53pm
I was also expecting some sort of type related joke! And yeah we should invent a name for this!
27 May 2008 — 1:26pm
Drunk I's ? -- always what happened when I went to a bar & stayed a while.
28 May 2008 — 3:14am
What about "Sans serif I with bars at both ends"? not sexy enough? Too long?
dr
28 May 2008 — 4:29am
"What do you call an 'I' with bars?"
A selfish person you can reach on a cell phone.
28 May 2008 — 9:49am
ROFL! : S
__
Rez
28 May 2008 — 10:11am
What do you call an ’I’ with bars?
Transerif?
29 May 2008 — 4:39am
What do you call an ’I’ with bars?
Semi-serif
29 May 2008 — 9:07am
So 'I' walk into a bar, and announce: "There's a new serif in town".
30 May 2008 — 3:37am
good one!