J is for JUSTIFIED

JUSTIFIED is the word given to text where both sides are nice and neat and aligned. It is achieved by adjusting the space between words which can look ugly if it is not properly typeset. UNJUSTIFIED is when the space has not been adjusted – the result is an ‘in and out’ right hand edge — as here.

It is one of many (old) printing terms that has religious associations because some of the earliest printing presses were set up in the churchyard of St Bride’s Church in Fleet Street by William Caxton’s apprentice after his master died in 1492. Typefaces are called fonts (legend has it that they were once stored in the old font at St Bride’s) and union branches are still known as Chapels. I once gloried in the title of Deputy Mother of the Chapel – a shop steward. Male shop stewards were, of course, Fathers of the Chapel.

The current St Bride’s was built by Christopher Wren and is the eighth church on the site – its predecessor was burnt down in the Great Fire of London in 1666.

St Bride’s other claim to fame is that its tiered spire was the original inspiration for the traditional wedding cake.

Tower of St Bride’s Church (Photo credit: Wikipedia)