Punctuate this! -- part deux
I was so excited by Sunday's post about the creation of the Tentative Hyphen that I decided to invent my own punctuation: the Fini.
A period is usually a fine way to end a sentence. But when there's a forcefulness attached to the words, I worry that the period will roll away. It is, after all, just a tiny black ball. I suppose an exclamation point could barricade the words, but that has been soooooo overused as an ending for e-mails: Thanks!
The fini, by contrast has a mass, a permanence, a sense of completion. So there.
Here's your chance to revolutionize the language. What's your punctuation invention?
Comments
It is unsatisfying to end a rhetorical question with a mere question mark. Better to use an exclaiming question mark. It consists of an exclamation point superimposed on a question mark, or vice versa. A rhetorical question is, after all, a combination of an exclamation and a question, so it makes sense to combine the two punctuation marks. It is simple to create an exclaiming question mark using a typewriter. You just type in the same spot twice, once with a question mark and once with an exclamation point. Don't know how to make an exclaiming question mark on a computer. Maybe someone does. I would love to claim credit for inventing the exclaiming question mark, and maybe I did. Or maybe I read about it long ago. Or maybe I dreamed about it. Or maybe a great aunt or distant cousin created it.
Posted by: patrick lackey | July 21, 2008 2:44 PM
I didn't come up with any punctuation marks, but I did offer an opinion as to adopting a stylistic change to the English Language. Instead of the clunky "he or she," he/she or "one" as the gender neutral, we should just use 'e (apostrophe-e). It makes perfect sense and doesn't disrupt the flow of speech or writing. Although it will make you sound cockney.
Posted by: Aaron Reese | June 30, 2011 5:35 PM