?!
This was actually shown to me a few weeks ago, and I had intended to write about it then, but I didn't, and it got passed over for a while.
Occasionally a sentence can be both a question and an exclamation at the same time. To signify this, these sentences are usually ended with both a question mark and an exclamation point. Apparently, though, a punctuation mark was invented to merge them together, called the Interrobang.
‽
That probably won't show up unless you're using Unicode fonts in your browser, because its not a standard ASCII character. In any case, its a rather handy symbol, and a shame it doesn't get more use.
Tags: linguistic typography
?!
This was actually shown to me a few weeks ago, and I had intended to write about it then, but I didn't, and it got passed over for a while.
Occasionally a sentence can be both a question and an exclamation at the same time. To signify this, these sentences are usually ended with both a question mark and an exclamation point. Apparently, though, a punctuation mark was invented to merge them together, called the Interrobang.
‽
That probably won't show up unless you're using Unicode fonts in your browser, because its not a standard ASCII character. In any case, its a rather handy symbol, and a shame it doesn't get more use.
Tags: linguistic typography
Modern Description
Posting from Linux right now, using BloGTK. I would just do it from the website, but Firefox is clashing with my color scheme settings and is making all the forms on the site white text on white background (or if I reverse the colors with Compiz, black text on black background). The Firefox plugin ScribeFire was no help, doing the same thing. This utility works well enough, so I'll run with it. Setting that all aside for now.
I'm working on a story right now, and, as I haven't worn any rings for some time, I had to look up which hand is for generic rings and which hand is reserved for wedding bands. Apparently it's a much more complex answer than I thought, with some countries doing the opposite of others. In general, though, tradition around here is wedding band on left hand.
What gets me, though, is one particular site. Or, more specifically, what gets me is what they have to do to explain the concept to people. This excerpt in particular:
So in the old days they had a simple answer: they put the ring on the third finger which they believed had a vein, artery or nerve (a sort of a USB cable) running directly to the heart.
A USB cable. That's the description they have to use for a nerve. Is the modern generation such that they are so technologically capable (a highly debatable point, but set that aside), but so biologically inept, that in order for them to understand the concept of the nervous system, we have to resort to having to explain it by using parallels to computers?
Nevermind the fact that USB is generally for expansion through external devices, something humans are hardly capable of biologically.
Tags: internet red_ice software
Temporal Thoughts Alike
Since Spiral Island and some of my other titles are RPGs, one of the things I reference to sometimes for ideas is the OGL-licensed System Reference Document, a subset of the 3.5 edition rules of Dungeons and Dragons. Although a rather good reference, I don't really actually ever play Dungeons and Dragons, so for me particularly it lies as merely a reference, and, since the system of Spiral Island is already established, mostly useless aside from ideas.
One particular part of it, though, the Unearthed Arcana materials, has something of far more value then strictly a gameplay system. The Sanity gameplay variant, which in itself contains a miniature DSM. When I came across this while reading through the variant systems, I began to get ideas, thinking it would be interesting to use actual DSM-defined disorders for characters, and had one particular character from the Spiral Island games in mind as one subject. However, there was something I had forgotten, which I just barely remembered a couple days ago.
What I had forgotten was something from back when I was in high school, and originally writing the story Spiral Island and starting the story for another game idea I got at the time. We were doing registrations for the next year, I think it was my Senior year. I couldn't advance in mathematics, as the AP Calculus class was a 2 period class and only held at the same time as another advanced class that I was taking, so I was left with some free space. While trying to fill it up, I had wandered upon the Psychology class in the course list, and from that I began to get ideas, thinking it would be interesting to use actual medically-defined disorders for characters, and had one particular character from the Spiral Island games in mind as one subject.
I copied and pasted that, aside from the acronym DSM, for that exact reason. The exact same thing had occurred to me, with the same ideas. I ended up registering for the class, but retained almost nothing of it. The most useful piece I had gained was knowledge of the DSM, which I hadn't really thought about otherwise since. That aside, however, I find it now very interesting that I had come up with the exact same ideas 7 years apart, without realizing that I had come up with the idea before.
Tags: psychology spiral_island writing
Aitches
Continuing on with the previous topic of accents, another thing I've noticed change in my speech lately is the use of the letter "H". Or, more specifically, the lack of it. Growingly, recently, I've been dropping them, and pronouncing words without them. And I'm not even in in Soho.
Date posted: 05 March, 2009Tags: accents english