On Wed, 6 May 1998, RuDad wrote:

> Ken,
>
> Isn't that fignal:)noife ratio?
>
> Rudy

I'm not an expert on 18th century typography, but let me contribute a
thought here.

My understanding is that the use of "f" for "s" was meant to imitate the
"long S" or "median S" and used in the middle of words, whereas the modern
lower-case "s" was called the "terminal s" and used at the ends of words.

Thus, a word like "passes" would be rendered as "paffes", not as "paffef".

Read a copy of the original Declaration of Independence to see this rule
in operation.

I'm sure this is just one instance in the long and fascinating history of
typography and handwriting influencing each other.

---
Lawrence Kestenbaum, [log in to unmask]
"One person's noise is another person's signal." -Ken Follett