Some names are not funny by just sounds but also by spelling. Dr. Dominic H ffytche certainly qualifies in this regard, in that his name…well, it just kind of looks funny.
This is doubly true if you include the professional titles that generally follow his name in directories and such, in full : BSc, MBBS, MD, MRCP, MRCPsych. He must have really enjoyed school.
Dr. ffytche is a famed neuroscientist from England, currently on staff at King’s College of London.
And no, that is not a typo, his last name really is spelled with a lower case f.
Why is that? As far as we could tell, it’s because that is the way the letter “F” used to be spelled in archaic English documents – with a lowercase “ff”. Dr. ffytche and any other folks using a lowercase double-f today are merely using this old-school style of spelling. Which is kind of badass, and certainly looks different.
UPDATE : Many thanks to Raimo Hopkins, who wrote in to clarify that “because of the fragility of certain type-cast letters in the printing trade, doubling [letters gave] greater strength than was otherwise obtainable.” This makes perfect sense, given the tools used for printing back in the day.
We’re just glad Dr. ffytche and others have decided to continue using this spelling even with today’s perhaps less fragile tools.
Mmmmm, braiiins.
Great name – always fancied a ff in my name.
It would be ffun, wouldn’t it? 😉
ffantastic post!
Thanks! You have the ffanciest-sounding name of any of our visitors thus ffar! (I’m getting carried away with this ff thing 🙂
Historical or hysterical – your choice! Nice read
I choose both! Thanks for the comment!
I understand that the double f in lower case, standing for upper case, came about because of the fragility of certain type-cast letters in the printing trade, doubling giving greater strength than was otherwise obtainable.
That would make sense. Thanks for the clarification, I might just add that to the post to make it clearer.
I googled him because I was reading Oliver Sacks and couldn’t figure it out, thanks for the explanation 😀
I believe I must have been reading the very same book when the name caught my eye and inspired this post. Thanks for reading!
Huh – that is kinda bad ass! I had no idea there were people writing their names like that today. Does his family do the same, or did he just wanna be that bad ass? 😉
Love it.
ffytche has more degrees than a thermometer….
It’s a variation of the affectation noted by human-face expert Max Picard (d. 1965) on beards in men, that they are “a fictive sign of importance.” In other words, symptomatic of the Age of Narcissism. Typical also of the British penchant for eccentricity as a mode of their much-ballyhooed “freedom.” They don’t care what trouble is causes others.