Irony Punctuation

[petite]

I just found out that attempts to solve the problem of detecting sarcasm or irony in text goes all the way back to the 1580s! This page describes various proposed punctuation marks such as:

the percontation point, which was used until the 17th century for rhetorical questions

the interrobang, which was used for rhetorical questions intended to express disbelief or excitement

the irony mark, used to indicate that the sentence was to be understood on a secondary level, such as ironically or sarcastically

Temherte slaqî, the Ethiopian punctuation to indicate sarcasm

and other typography for addressing these situations such as psuedo-HTML <sarcasm></sarcasm> marks or hashtags like #sarcasm

Don't you think communicating in text would be a lot easier and cause less confusion if we had more punctuation marks to indicate how you intended your words to be interpreted?

 

[SilverTrain]

I just found out that attempts to solve the problem of detecting sarcasm or irony in text goes all the way back to the 1580s! This page describes various proposed punctuation marks such as:

the percontation point, which was used until the 17th century for rhetorical questions

the interrobang, which was used for rhetorical questions intended to express disbelief or excitement

the irony mark, used to indicate that the sentence was to be understood on a secondary level, such as ironically or sarcastically

Temherte slaqî, the Ethiopian punctuation to indicate sarcasm

and other typography for addressing these situations such as psuedo-HTML <sarcasm></sarcasm> marks or hashtags like #sarcasm

I give you highest marks for this post. Very interesting.


[No irony or sarcasm intended. :smile:]

 

[SilverTrain]

The interrobang does sound rather naughty, though.

 

[petite]

The interrobang does sound rather naughty, though.

It sounds like a porno set in a police interrogation room, gang bang style, doesn't it?

"Tell us the truth or we'll fuck you some more!"

"Go ahead! Fuck me as much as you want, I'll never talk!"

Eh, sounds too rapey. Yuck. Oh, I know!

"Tell us the truth or we won't fuck you!"

"No! No! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything you want to know!"

Yeah, that's better.

Heh, I wonder if this thread will ever return to the topic in the OP now. :tongue:

 

[bobg4400]

Fascinating, so how come none of them have stuck around for people to use?
I tend to use:tongue: or (!) if :tongue: isn't available.

 

[MickeyLee]

now i got new punctuation to use incorrectly.
:redface:

 

[bobg4400]

now i got new punctuation to use incorrectly.
:redface:

Haha I wish that was all I had. Now I'm going to be up for the next few hours reading all of the wikipedia pages on punctuation:smile:

 

[185248]

Maybe they could invent a magnety thingy to detect the irony thingies?

 

[kenny233]

Interesting post!

Those punctuations would, indeed, be useful at times. Hey! They might have died out back in the 1700s, but we can revive them on this forum &#1567;

 

[OhWiseOne]

Ugh....Now I have to find these on my fucking phone / home PC. :boggled:

 

[MickeyLee]

Haha I wish that was all I had. Now I'm going to be up for the next few hours reading all of the wikipedia pages on punctuation:smile:

the wiki-bounce
a leading killer of free time.

i evoke the humor cartouche - :tongue::wink::biggrin:

some folks *self included* sometimes refer to this particular arrangement of emoticons as 'the emoticons of immunity"

 

[B_Nicodemous]

now i got new punctuation to use incorrectly.
:redface:

You and me both sweetie!:biggrin1:

Maybe they could invent a magnety thingy to detect the irony thingies?

LOL!:biggrin1:

Ugh....Now I have to find these on my fucking phone / home PC. :boggled:

Ugh! Thanks for ruining the moment with that horrid intrusion of reality! :tongue:

Awesome thread Petite!

 

[B_Hickboy]

just fuck off

 

[bobbyboyle]

I'd only heard of the interrobang before, thanks for the new knowledge! I'll be browsing that page for ages now!

Say whaaaat&#8253;

 

[B_Nicodemous]

just fuck off

Awww, thank you!:biggrin1:

 

[Who_Dun_It]

The interrobang does sound rather naughty, though.

It sounds like a porno set in a police interrogation room, gang bang style, doesn't it?

"Tell us the truth or we'll fuck you some more!"

"Go ahead! Fuck me as much as you want, I'll never talk!"

Eh, sounds too rapey. Yuck. Oh, I know!

"Tell us the truth or we won't fuck you!"

"No! No! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything you want to know!"

Yeah, that's better.

Heh, I wonder if this thread will ever return to the topic in the OP now. :tongue:

Glad I'm not the only one that thought along those lines:redface: I kept thinking that sounded like something that would have XXX somewhere in it's web address:tongue:

 

[trunksisba]

This thread is both interesting, and hilarious

 

[petite]

Surely there's a modern way to use some of these punctuation ideas. We can use emoticons to indicate irony, sarcasm, and silliness, but what about the interrobang for rhetorical questions intended to indicate disbelief or excitement? I suppose the faux html or hashtag works for that, eh?

 

[masked_marauder]

I really want to use the interrobang. I'm tired of typing "?!?!?!?!" at the end of a sentence to express precisely the same meaning.

I think I would amend the rules of the interrobang to make it NOT for rhetorical situations, and then use a backwards interrobang for the rhetorical expressions. This would keep it in line with the question mark and percontation mark, as far as shape and orientation.

With sarcasm, sometimes you really have to let the reader know ahead of time that you are being facetious, just so they can get it. So I think a punctuation mark at the beginning may be necessary, like a ~ or a ^. (Of course, there are times that you WANT to let people red the whole thing and make their own determination of sarcasm or not, just to pull their leg. :wink: )

 

[TurkeyWithaSunburn]

what&#8253;