Re: OT: ff

[billtroop@xxxxxxxx]

> And for that matter, why is "fortissimo" in music also abbreviated to "ff"?
> Doubling the "f" makes a point here, too.

Myron, I think you're obsessing on the doubling issue
when it comes to music. f is forte, ff is fortissimo,
fff is forte-fortissimo, and composers occasionally use
very many more fs when they feel it necessary.

Likewise, p for piano (soft), pp for pianissimo,
etc. etc. Four or five ps are not unheard of.

What is more important is the tradition that these
characters should always be in printed in bold italic;
one wonders how it was done before the comparatively
recent invention of bold italic type. Were it not for
p, one might almost be tempted to think of the musical
f is a florin symbol.