13 Little Known Punctuation Marks we should be using & Some History.

[G. David Felt]

13 Little-Known
Punctuation Marks We Should Be Using

Adrienne
Crezo

Because sometimes periods, commas, colons, semi-colons, dashes, hyphens, apostrophes, question marks, exclamation points, quotation marks, brackets, parentheses, braces, and ellipses won't do.

1. Interrobang

You probably already know the interrobang, thanks to its excellent moniker and increasing popularity. Though the combination exclamation point and question mark can be replaced by using one of each (You did what!? or You don't read mental_floss?!), it's fun to see the single glyph getting a little more love lately.

2. Percontation Point or Rhetorical Question Mark

The backward question mark was proposed by Henry Denham in 1580 as an end to a rhetorical question, and was used until the early 1600s.

3. Irony Mark

It looks a lot like the percontation point, but the irony mark's location is a bit different, as it is smaller, elevated, and precedes a statement to indicate its intent before it is read. Alcanter de Brahm introduced the idea in the 19th century, and in 1966 French author Hervé Bazin proposed a similar
glyph in his book, Plumons l’Oiseau, along with 5 other innovative marks.

4. Love Point

Among Bazin's proposed new punctuation was the love point, made of two question marks, one mirrored, that share a point. The intended use, of course, was to denote a statement of affection or love, as in "Happy anniversary [love point]" or "I have warm fuzzies [love point]" If it were easier to type, I think this one might really take off.

5. Acclamation Point

Bazin described this mark as "the stylistic representation of those two little flags that float above the tour bus when a president comes to town." Acclamation is a "demonstration of goodwill or welcome,"
so you could use it to say "I'm so happy to see you [acclamationpoint]" or "Viva Las Vegas [acclamationpoint]"

6. Certitude Point

Need to say something with unwavering conviction? End your declaration with the certitude point, another of Bazin's designs.

7. Doubt Point

This is the opposite of the certitude point, and thus is used to end a sentence with a note of skepticism.

8. Authority Point

Bazin's authority point "shades your sentence" with a note of expertise, "like a parasol over a sultan." (Well, I was there and that's what happened.) Likewise, it's also used to indicate an order or advice
that should be taken seriously, as it comes from a voice of authority.

9. SarcMark

The SarcMark (short for "sarcasm mark") was invented, copyrighted and trademarked by Paul Sak, and while it hasn't seen widespread use, Sak markets it as "The official, easy-to-use punctuation mark to emphasize a sarcastic phrase, sentence or message." Because half the fun of sarcasm is pointing it out [sarcMark].

10. Snark Mark

This, like the copyrighted SarcMark, is used to indicate that a sentence should be understood beyond the literal meaning. Unlike the SarcMark, this one is copyright free and easy to type: it's just a period followed by a tilde.

11. Asterism

This cool-looking but little-used piece of punctuation used to be the divider between subchapters in books or to indicate minor breaks in a long text. It's almost obsolete, since books typically now use three asterisks in a row to break within chapters (***) or simply skip an extra line. It seems a shame to waste such a great little mark, though. Maybe we should bring this one back.

12 & 13. Exclamation Comma & Question Comma

Now you can be excited or inquisitive without having to end a sentence! A Canadian patent was filed for these in 1992, but it lapsed in 1995, so use them freely, but not too often.

Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/12710/13-little-known-punctuation-marks-we-should-be-using#ixzz2KcZWRhyi


--brought to you by mental_floss!

In 1928, the federal
government overhauled its system of printing bank notes. It shaved about an
inch of length and just under a half-inch of width off the bills and issued the
new, smaller bills in the $1 to $100 denominations with which we're familiar. However,
the Treasury also issued larger denominations.

Fun facts about
big, big bank notes

Can you guess who is on the
front of the following bills also available at the bank:

$500 - ????????

$1000 - ???????

$5000 - ???????

$10000 - ??????

Give up who is on the front
????????? scroll down.

They featured William
McKinley ($500), Grover Cleveland ($1,000), James Madison ($5,000) and Salmon
P. Chase ($10,000).

[Olds Guy]

So, number 9 is pronounced "Bazinga?"

[G. David Felt]

You got me on your comment, does not match up to the #9 listed above. So what are you trying to say?

[GMTruckGuy74]

So, number 9 is pronounced "Bazinga?"

LOL!!

Edited February 15, 2013 by GMTruckGuy74

[G. David Felt]

Guess I need to watch more TV as I do not recognize the Bazinga thing. What is it from?

[GMTruckGuy74]

CBS's "The Big Bang Theory". The character pictured is Dr. Sheldon Cooper, a genius-type with a weird sense of humor. His trademarked comeback is "Bazinga". I too don't watch too much TV, but BBT is one of the shows I've become addicted too.

[G. David Felt]

Thanks GMTruckGuy! Will have to check it out when I get some time.

[NeonLX]

I rarely watch the tube but my daughter loves TBBT. I gotta admit, the episodes I've watched with her have been pretty funny. One of them featured Steven Hawking as a guest star.