570 years ago

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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:02 pm

If I remember my dates correctly, 2009 marks the 570th anniversary of Johannes Gutenberg inventing the movable printing press. The first documents ever printed were what’s become know as the Gutenberg Bibles.

The second documents ever printed were mass letters –

Thou does not knowith me but I, having been instructed by the Pope, am giving notice that a large sum of gold and silver hath been left and not claimed. The owner of such having been killed by demons. The Holy Father in Rome hath decreed you to be the sole receiver….

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:03 pm

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 5:10 pm

And not that far from the truth... the original advanced fee fraud called "The Spanish Prisoner Letter" - in which the victim is promised a share in said prisoner's hidden loot if they can just come up with a few groats to bribe the guards to allow his escape - dates back to the 16th century

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 6:29 pm

I wonder if there were baiters even then ...

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 7:12 pm

^^ Possibly.
They would have been called "Ye fcambaiterf".

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

[pedantic git] Actually, from the few examples I have seen, it is a myth that the s's are written as f's. They used a variation on an "s" with a tail, but it is a distinct glyph, different from the "f". They also used a normal "s" as well. There is an obvious pattern determining which glyph was used, but I have forgotten it. [/pedantic git]

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:40 pm

@ the pedantic git.

Actually, there were different variations. The most common of which was ſ as in "dog-ſhit" or "bollockſ "

http://home.alphalink.com.au/~umbidas/why_does.htm

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:03 pm

^^^

quoted website wrote:

Welcome to Brian Barratt's language website
for bright kids, gifted and talent students
& people with enquiring minds!

What the bloody hell were you doing there? Nil out of three!

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 7:24 am

[mathgeek]
We still use that long s; if you've ever done any calculus that integration sign is a long s standing for "sum of all the little bits"
[/mathgeek]