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Uppercase dotted I and J in French football jerseys

Jim UtzJim Utz Posts: 8
edited November 2021 in Technique and Theory
I've been watching a lot of international football (soccer) these days and noticed this. In the all caps names of the players on their jerseys all the I and Js have a dot over them. I've only seen this in the French league. Is this just affectation or is there a real reason for it?

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    Yves MichelYves Michel Posts: 152
    Hello Jim,

    I'm a French native speaker.
    I never saw a dot over the I or J uppercase letters (except in Turkish).
    Must be the mad idea of a jersey designer (we've seen worst in jersey design these days!)

    I find it normal to encourage the use of accents on capitals but the dots on I and J are definitely not accents in French.

    Affectation ! You're quite right.
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    Jim UtzJim Utz Posts: 8
    Thank you Yves.
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    Mark SimonsonMark Simonson Posts: 1,654
    I have seen that affectation in a few French things: Lettering in French comics (Mœbius, Asterix) and the movie titles of Jean-Luc Godard.
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    Marc OxborrowMarc Oxborrow Posts: 220
    Indeed, @Mark Simonson - when Atelier Carvalho Bernau released an all-caps Godard tribute font in 2010, they included dotted a dotted I and J.


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    Yves MichelYves Michel Posts: 152
    In French litterature, there is an expression "licence poétique" (poetic licence) when you break the rules of French language. 
    Let's qualify this as a "graphic licence", which is more constructive than "affectation"!
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    André G. IsaakAndré G. Isaak Posts: 626
    I'm not sure that dotted uppercase I's count as a "French" thing. I've seen them in a variety of display faces of non-French origins (though frequently the top of the dot is aligned with the cap height)

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    Nick ShinnNick Shinn Posts: 2,146
    Special <locl> coding for Turkish!
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    Russell McGormanRussell McGorman Posts: 261
    I'm working on a typeface with dotted Uppercase I and J (and IJ), but it's a square dot and they align with cap-height. 

    (Note to self: Keep French football jersey designers in mind for marketing purposes.)  B) 
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