Once upon a clip , before emojis replaced Word of God and Bitmojis essentially made both obsolete , write communicating relied heavily on punctuation marks . But if you ’ve ever feel limited by period of time , commas and exclamation point , you ’re not alone . Here are six punctuation brand that hoi polloi have tried to make happen ( with vary degrees of achiever ):
1: Interrobang
No existing punctuation mark mark has the power to elegantly and efficiently convey complete and utter dumbfoundedness the way the interrobang does — and as a fillip , it acquire the honour for in force name ever . In 1962 , journalist - turn - ad - executive Martin K. Speckter decided he was done untidily expressing shock and awe with multipleexclamationand query marks — why not blend the two symbols to make one sleek communication channel for show readers just how incredulous you are ?
2: Irony Mark
If you ’ve been dying to carry out a symbol to capture your hipster attitude in print , the irony soft touch is for you . English vicar and philosopher John Wilkins first add up up with the construct of a symbol to argue satire in 1668 ( side note : Wilkinsreportedlyalso make up transparent hive and believed the moon was inhabit by aliens , but rent ’s stay focussed here ) .
concord to Wilkins , an upside - down exclamation point was the agency to get irony , but it did n’t catch on , and many others over many more centuries essay to introduce other marks to denotesarcasm . Alcanter de Brahm face his take on the irony mark ( which definitely resemble the percontation spot ) in the 19th century and many others , including French source Hervé Bazin ( you ’ll hear that name again in a bit ) have tried to make their own irony symbols catch on … but nothing has stuck quite yet .
3: SarcMark
Paul Sak thought he ’d visualise out the best way to solve the caustic remark dilemma . A little over a decade ago , he copyright andtrademarkedthe SarcMark ™ after " it occurred to him that the English language , and perhaps other languages , lacked a punctuation mark mark to denote sarcasm ( Wilkins and Brahm are somewhere sighing in foiling ) .
There was somebacklashto Sak ’s invention ( seeNick Broughall ’s article for Gizmodo Australia : " SarcMark : For When You ’re Not Smart Enough To Express Sarcasm Online " ) , and , consort toKeith Houston , author of"Shady Characters",“the legally unsinkable symbolisation was nevertheless hole out below the waterline almost as soon as it was launched . " The SarcMark is n’t to be confused with the Snark Mark , another symbolization intend to bespeak sarcasm that ’s right of first publication - free and easygoing to type ( it ’s a point followed by that wavelike affair called a tilde ) . find free to employ it — citizenry really seem to savor overtly obvious satire .
4: Love Point
OK , so Bazin ’s version of the irony bell ringer did n’t quite overtake on , but he had some other cool ideas too . Like the love point ! Think of it as the punctuation equivalent of the heart - eyed cat emoji ( which is infinitely superior to the steady yellowed heart - eyed face emoji ) . It was have in mind to denote statement of love or affection , like " happy anniversary " or " thanks for not guess my Netflix waiting line . " But just like Bezin ’s other creations , the dear gunpoint sadly never come into favour since typewriter did n’t accommodate it . But a simple <3 can in effect convey the same matter , do n’t you think ?
5: Exclamation Comma
Why wait until the closing of a sentence to show your turmoil ? In 1992 , three American inventors created and patent the exclamation comma butterfly as a mode for writers to differentiate the human race just how stoke they were mid - sentence . The Divine argued generator could apply it to " reflect spoken language or thoughts more closely . " The trio hyped their invention for three years until their letters patent lapsed and everyone agreed to stifle their exuberance until the end of each statement .
6: Certitude Point
in the end , just one more from Bazin ( swell had great , if poorly executed , thought ) . He purport the certitude point as a way to finish statement with serious condemnation . The symbolic representation , which look like an exclamation tip with a no - trumpery horizontal bloodline through it , sure does shout out self-confidence , and as Phil Jamieson suggests onthe GrammarPhile Blog , " this punctuation would well be used instead of writing in all caps . " If you ’re ready to build up your own custom - made keyboard to make that happen , the certitude decimal point will all up your street cred .
