[texhax] could someone give me an explanation as to why fontsize fails with an overfull box

[Philip Taylor]

Peter Flynn wrote:
> I think in the sense you mean, yes. In fact a \vbox can be used for
> storage, and applied later, so it doesn't have to be used on the
> *current* page; but its contents do have to *fit* on a single page or less.

Not necessarily so.  A \vbox can by \unvboxed.

>
> If you mean, "why is TeX not more forgiving of the omission of mandatory
> arguments?" then answer is probably "because Knuth wrote it that way" :-)

Or more simply, "because they are mandatory".  

** Phil.