>[!abstract] >A proposed font style sloping toward the left (i.e., in the opposite direction of italics) to signal the use of irony and sarcasm, and prevent people misinterpreting it as being serious. >[!abstract] Origin >In 2005 The Baltimore Sun, newspaper of record in the state of Maryland, underwent a comprehensive redesign. Every aspect of its visual design was revisited: its layout and masthead were changed, pictures were given pride of place, and a new typeface was commissioned from the French typographer Jean François Porchez. Named ‘Mencken’ in honor of the Sun’s most famous writer, the iconoclastic H.L. Mencken, Porchez elaborated on the choice of name: > > According to the London Daily Mail, H.L. Mencken even ventured beyond the typewriter and into the world of typography. Because he felt Americans did not recognize irony when they read it, he proposed creation of a special typeface to be called ironics, with the text slanting the opposite direction from italic type, to indicate that the writer was trying to be funny. > >([[Houston, 2011]]). >[!related] >- **North** (upstream): [[Poe's law]] >- **West** (similar): — >- **East** (different): — >- **South** (downstream): —