[latexrefman] Is a « slot » a « cassetin » ?

[Vincent Belaïche]

In the en version of the manual the term slot is used w/o any defining
it, just as as if it would be plain obvious language. And probably
this is how you took it as slot is quite a common term in English with
plenty of meanings, like in slot-machine, time-slot, etc… As a math
teacher you thought of some ordering algorithm, but as for me, having
worked at length in the field in radio mobile telecommunication, I
mainly heard slot as a time slot in Time Division Multiple Access
radio system.

Instead, the term « cassetin » in French is quite unique, frankly
speaking I did not know this word, and it was the first time I read
it. I thought that the English language had many more words than the
French one, but this idea was just resulting from the relative size of
French and English parts in bilingual dictionaries… A sentence like «
En tout _cas_ une _casse_ est aussi une _caisse_ » would translate to
« In any _case_ a _case_ is also a _case_ » … :-D :-/

So, to conclude, I think that we should define this term in the
context of typography, and if my speculation is true (ie the origin of
the term slot is from being a « cassetin » of a « casse »), then we
should mention it, as the analogy would help the reader understand the
definition.

Concerning « glyph number within a font », that is just the sort of
definition we should provide to the term, before using it. I won't
translate a single word by some lengthy phrase if there exists a
translation to a single word in French, all the more if the French
word is more specific than the English one.

  V.

Le sam. 4 sept. 2021 à 19:40, Hefferon, Jim S. <jhefferon at smcvt.edu> a écrit :
>
>
> I'm not sure about the term's translation.  I often hear "slot" used for a space in an ordering.  Is your "glyph number within a font" or some similar phrase not OK?
>
> Jim
>
> ...........................................................
> Why are they not in jail?
>
> ________________________________________
> From: latexrefman <latexrefman-bounces+jhefferon=smcvt.edu at tug.org> on behalf of Vincent Belaïche <vincent.belaiche at gmail.com>
> Sent: Saturday, September 4, 2021 13:33
> To: latexrefman
> Subject: [latexrefman] Is a « slot » a « cassetin » ?
>
> ⚠ External Sender ⚠
>
>
> I am wondering how to translate « slot » with the meaning of « glyph
> number within a font ».
>
> I found that when the fonts were made of lead mobile stamps, the
> French word « casse » was a wooden case subdivided in slots named «
> cassetin », see
>
>  https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassetin
> https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casse_(typographie)
>
> (Note that the French for case, is caisse, not casse, in French casse
> is really a specific word to typography, although the two terms are
> really alike).
>
> So I think that I should translate « slot » by « cassetin ». BTW, «
> lowcase » in French is « bas-de-casse » because the « casse » for
> lowcase characters was below that for upcase (and the French for « low
> » is « bas »). This tend to confirm that there is some matching
> between concrete terms used in the old time of mecanical typography,
> and abstract terms used in electronic typesetting.
>
> Any comments?, or said otherwise : in English do you simply name «
> slots » those « cassetins »?
>
>   V.
>
>