Handwriting and calligraphy

Calligraphy and typography describe the same thing with different words: what the typesetter calls el asta is el trazo descendente to the person writing. Among the terms for the stroke stands el remate de la letra, and it is a word English has never managed to keep in one piece. El remate is whatever finishes something off. At the end of a letterform it is the small cross-stroke English calls « a serif ». On top of a tower it is « a finial ». In front of a goal it is « the finishing shot ». In a saleroom, el remate is the knock-down, the moment the hammer falls. Four English words, one Spanish noun, and a single idea beneath them: the last touch, the thing that says this is over.