78. There is now considerable confusion between fount ( font in American English) and face . This is mainly due to the careless use of ‘font’ in computer terminology to mean sometimes face , sometimes fount and sometimes both at the same time. In modern usage before widespread use of word processing by computer, the distinction was clear. A type face is set of type of a single design. Each face contains an arbitrarily large number of founts where is fount is a set of type all of the same face and all of the same size. Thus Times New Roman is a face; Times New Roman 10 point is a fount of Times New Roman. Other point sizes of the same face comprise other founts. The distinction between face and fount is well worth making. Note that the italic styles of a type design are different faces to the romans.

An example of the confusion: To say ‘use a different font’ may mean use another design of type (a different face) or use another size of the current design (another fount of the same face) or use a different size of a different design (another fount of a different face). Nor is : ‘use a bigger / smaller font’ clear. It may mean a bigger or smaller point size, but it need not mean this since different faces often have different sizes as well as weights of letter in the same point size. To describe particular type, a face and fount must both be specified.

In the translator’s opinion the word font in English English should be used only in connection with baptism. In American English, font should be used to mean what it used to mean before it entered computer jargon, and should be carefully distinguished from face . But I do not suppose many will follow this advice.