Log in

No account? Create an account

Remember me

Forgot password

Facebook Twitter Google RAMBLER&Co ID

By logging in to LiveJournal using a third-party service you accept LiveJournal's User agreement

: Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
2011-10-28 13:36:00

Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
2011-10-28 13:36:00

Mood: busy

Obscure Punctuation

my_partner_doug tipped me to this page of obscure punctuation marks. I knew several of them, but others were new to me. My favorite is, of course, the last one. I'd love to have that on a t-shirt.

I pay attention to punctuation in constructed languages too. One version of my desert language has dashes where the vowels would be, or a spear for a long vowel, with the vowel marker written above the line. That was the interim between not writing down the vowels at all and writing them as proper letters in line with the consonants. I also like putting reversed punctuation marks at the beginning of questions or exclamations, as Spanish does, which makes them easier to read.

Tags: linguistics

Recent Posts from This Journal

Community Building Tip: Outdoor Movies

For my current set of tips, I'm using the list " 101 Small Ways You Can Improve Your City. 79. Screen a movie outdoors. An impromptu movie…
Photographs

I took some pictures of my yard today. Read about what makes a good wildlife yard and Fieldhaven as habitat. The larger brush pile is still…
Birdfeeding

Today is partly sunny and delightfully mild. I fed the birds. I've seen a small flock of house finches and a few sparrows. I walked around the yard…

the_vulture

October 28 2011, 18:52:23 UTC 9 years ago

Collapse
Expand
New comment

Sweet! I particularly like the different variations of comma. And the snark is a beautiful thing! XD

withoutwords

October 28 2011, 19:18:19 UTC 9 years ago

Collapse
Expand
New comment

Thanks for posting this! And I'm definitely with you on the last one needing to be a t-shirt. :D

fayanora

October 28 2011, 20:42:14 UTC 9 years ago

Collapse
Expand
New comment

Cool!

Some of these I know already. I use carets in my handwriting all the time. My handwriting is a dynamic experience I use to work out ideas, and is full of carets, arrows, circles, crossings-out, side notes, and doodles.

OH MY GOD THE EXCLAMATION COMMA I WANT IT NOW!!! And the question comma! (Which reminds me, I want an interrobang, too!) Question and exclamation point commas would be really useful for me. Every time I do dialogue, and so something like ["What was it you wanted to know," she asked], it looks wrong somehow. But using a question mark instead of a comma looks worse. A question mark comma instead of a comma would look better.

rhodielady_47

October 29 2011, 02:10:58 UTC 9 years ago

Collapse
Expand
New comment

Loved the article--I saved a copy for myself.
Makes you wonder how such punctuation marks ever came into being and then why they aren't used any more.
:)

rowangolightly

October 29 2011, 03:05:36 UTC 9 years ago

Collapse
Expand
New comment

Yeah, I posted about it on Facebook and got *no* reactions whatsoever. Me, I like the Interrobang. It just makes me crack up.

Deleted comment

Thoughts

ysabetwordsmith

October 29 2011, 03:53:46 UTC 9 years ago

Collapse
Expand
New comment

>>And... sorry I keep commenting on your post, but I keep forgetting about things I want to say! <<

No problem.

>>In an earlier version of Talani (the language they speak in the Wasteland), punctuation goes at the beginning of sentences, and I think when I work out the alphabet and how it's written, I might revive that...<<

That sounds like fun.

mount_oregano

October 29 2011, 18:15:13 UTC 9 years ago

Collapse
Expand
New comment

I·has·interpunct.

I have a Spanish keyboard, and the interpunct is used in Català, which is one of Spain's official languages. In Català, it's called a "punt volat" or "flying point."

The interpunct is used to separate letters to indicate that they should both be pronounced, like paral·lel.