>> I did not design that function, that's how it works.  But given how 
>> intricate the face machinery is, I'm not sure it's possible to do much 
>> better.
>
> It does feel a little odd, though. Could you explain why :family does 
> get evaluated first, but :font does not?
>

I can't explain that, no.  If you look at bug#1127, you'll see that moving 
the evaluation of :family and :foundry before other attributes was (in 
2008) perceived as a workaround.  Apparently that worked well enough, and 
it's still there in its original form.

IMO it would make sense to move the evaluation of the :font attribute 
before other attributes, for the same reason.

Eli, what do you think of the attached patch?

>
> And yet, it's better recommended to use :font?
>

Again, that's why I'd recommend, but it's not the officially recommended 
way of doing things (if such a thing exists).