What do you call bears with no ears?

setup: What do you call bears with no ears?

[Type Director] qua minimalist gallery space, hexagonal eyeglasses, wool turtleneck We’re reviewing the new bears for the Spring Identity Refresh.

[KayCEE] qua chrome-finish humanoid, sound of internal cooling fans, faintly admiring everything Bring up the first letterform.

(([Type Director] SLIDES A LAMINATED CARD FORWARD: A CAPITAL B.))

[KayCEE] B. Standalone glyph. Two enclosed counters. Spine on the left. Bowl-stacking with the proper junction. Beautiful.

[Type Director] That’s the thesis bear.

[KayCEE] It is bear-class. It is also B-class. The convergence is exquisite.

[Shakes] qua type-foundry intern with a magnifying loupe, beaming This is the best of all possible visual identities.

[Type Director] We’d like to apply the system across the bear family. Polar, brown, grizzly, sun, Kodiak. All B-class.

[KayCEE] And the ears?

[Type Director] The ears are removed.

[KayCEE] ((PAUSE)) Then they are no longer bears. They are B.

[Type Director] Right.

[KayCEE] The B is the bear with its ears removed. The ear is the descender. Without the descender, the glyph is purely architectural.*

[Type Director] Right.

[KayCEE] Bears have two ears. The B has two enclosed counters. The counters are where the ears were. The ear became enclosed space. The bear has been abstracted.

[Manyfeek] qua single removed bear-ear taxidermied on a velvet block on the studio’s reference shelf ((FROM THE SHELF)) This is my ear. They took it for the kerning study. I have not heard since.

[Type Director] That ear is paid for.

[Manyfeek] I was not consulted.

[KayCEE] The ear is now part of the counterform. The ear has joined the whitespace. The ear has graduated.

[Type Director] ((WRITING)) Approved. Spring identity: the B bear.

[KayCEE] Three more, please.

[Type Director] More B-bears?

[KayCEE] Odd numbers. Three. Or five. Five is also beautiful.

punchline: B.