On Friday, we wished Frederic Goudy a happy birthday with this tweet.
“A man who would letterspace lower case would steal sheep.” — Frederic Goudy Happy birthday to Frederic Goudy!
— TypeEd (@TypeEd) March 8, 2014
And then our friendly neighborhood type design community decided to fact-check the quote.
@jerroldmaddox @typeed @typofonderie “Any man who would letterspace blackletter would shag sheep” would have been the correct quote.
— Yves Peters (@BaldCondensed) March 9, 2014
@williamberkson @thomasphinney @jerroldmaddox @typeed @typofonderie Originally it was “fuck”, but you don’t say that on Twitter.
— Yves Peters (@BaldCondensed) March 9, 2014
If you learned typeface personality like I did with Eric Spiekermann's and EM Ginger's book, Stop Stealing Sheep, you'll see why the thread reached him for clarity on the quote.
@WilliamBerkson @BaldCondensed @ThomasPhinney @jerroldmaddox @TypeEd @typofonderie yes. The original wasn’t considered suitable.
— erik spiekermann (@espiekermann) March 9, 2014
@WilliamBerkson @BaldCondensed @ThomasPhinney @jerroldmaddox @TypeEd @typofonderie I would’t have done but for prudish US publishers.
— erik spiekermann (@espiekermann) March 10, 2014
@WilliamBerkson @BaldCondensed @ThomasPhinney @jerroldmaddox @TypeEd @typofonderie E Ginger found a witness who confirmed the quote.
— erik spiekermann (@espiekermann) March 10, 2014
@WilliamBerkson @BaldCondensed @ThomasPhinney @jerroldmaddox @TypeEd @typofonderie confirmed shag. Easier to remember than lc vs blackletter
— erik spiekermann (@espiekermann) March 10, 2014
So there you have it folks, the Stop Stealing Sheep book could've been named Stop Fucking Sheep if not for prudish U.S. readers. Mind blown.
