Tim ignored_mailbox@yahoo.com.au writes:
While the "size" of a font is, indeed, the entire size of the font, points used in typing, generally, were just used as a measure of how many would fit across a given width (10pt being the common one, 12pt being the more compact, usually).
You are mis-remembering the word "pitch" as "points". A 10 pitch font is 10 characters per inch, and is larger than a 12-pitch font (12 cpi).