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jcl on April 9, 2020 | parent | context | favorite | on: Jarrett Heather presents: Word Crimes (2014)

Love the song and video -- great to see the behind-the-scenes and in-jokes.

One thing I'm still curious about is the lyric: "You should never / write words using numbers / unless you're seven / or your name is Prince" -- particularly, whether it was an intentional reference to the movie "Se7en". If it was, it seems like a missed opportunity in the video.

DonHopkins on April 9, 2020 | prev [–]

Funny, I thought the symbol for The Artist Formerly Known As Prince was informally pronounced and spelled "BRUCE", which is less cumbersome to speak and spell than the official alternative (which is unspeakable unspellable silence).

His PR company sent this memorandum around to the press and industry, including step-by-step downloading, installation, and usage instructions for Macintosh and PC, of a special [BRUCE] font with just one unpronounceable [BRUCE] symbol, to be used when referring to The Artist in print. I guess Weird Al didn't get the memo.

https://milk.com/wall-o-shame/bruce_font.html

>Why, the ``Bruce'' font? Because someone jokingly suggested that because it was way too cumbersome to say, ``that symbol guy'' or whatever, it'd be much easier to give the symbol a name, and that name should be ``Bruce.'' So there.

>[BRUCE] Background: On June 7, 1993, mega-star Prince surprised fans and the entertainment industry when he announced that he was separating from his band New Power Generation and changing his name. At that time, the performer legally changed his name to the symbol "[BRUCE]", which has no verbal pronunciation or spelling. He did not reveal his reason for the change.

>The "[BRUCE]" is now the artist's legal name and should be used whenever referring to him in print. However the first time he is referenced in a story, you may wish to use the phrase "[BRUCE] (the artist formerly known as Prince)" to avoid confusion. Thereafter please use the [BRUCE] font.

>To obtain a copy of the [BRUCE] font, which can be easily installed on any Macintosh or IBM compatible PC, please contact Lisa McCormick, Lages & Associates at 714/453-8080. Or the fonts are available onlilne from CompuServe.

>To download the fonts from CompuServe, GO WBRECORDS after logging on, then SEARCH from the LIBRARIES menu for PRNFON.ZIP (for the PC version) or PRNFON.SIT (for the Macintosh). Please follow the instructions in the readme file for any updates on how to load the font on your computer. The fonts are located in Library 2 (the Warner Bros. Library).

Want the Original Prince Symbol Font? Here You Go...

https://techguylabs.com/episodes/1284/want-original-prince-s...

https://www.dailydot.com/debug/prince-font-install-love-symb...

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jvj2ss4jfymvir1/AADXW3RWGwgykj1mg...

https://www.bustle.com/articles/156408-a-princes-symbol-font...

>Though it's become an undeniable piece of musical iconography and a supreme emblem of everything he represents, the meaning of Prince's symbol actually goes far deeper than being just an exercise in artistic branding. Chosen for its impracticality and difficulty to reproduce, the symbol was a way for a fed-up Prince to mess with Warner Bros., his record label, who were critical of the speed of his output, as a way to negotiate the contract he had with them.

>In 1993, when Prince changed his name to an untypeable and unspeakable symbol, it caused problems beyond his record label. Music journalists everywhere had no way that they could feature him in their publications without having a name. So, Prince came up with the perfect solution, creating his very own custom-designed font which substituted a capital P with Prince's symbol.

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