Called the 'SarcMark', it has been designed by an American firm to indicate sarcasm. Check out the ad below:
As this article in the Telegraph points out, without the benefit of tone of voice, expression sarcasm in print can be fraught with risk. But alas, we now have something which will make explicit that which may have been intended to be subtle!
I'm just itching with ideas about how I can teach this new one to my students! Free download here.
(Hat tip: Kathryn EDEM629 for this!)
Down with the SarcMark!
ReplyDeletePunctuation for sarcasm must be free, historically accurate and standards-compliant. Join the revolution to free sarcasm from the capitalist chains of the SarcMark by punctuating your sarcastic comments with ¡
More info at http://opensarcasm.org
Thanks for the response. I had no idea I was wading into a punctuo-political theatre of ideological class warfare! I have to admit, I was surprised that it was a 'firm' that had created this, and that they were applying for a patent, presumably so they could profit from it. Does anyone own the patent on existing punctuation? And did I just violate it?
ReplyDeleteThey say necessity is the mother of invention. Do we really need a sarcasm mark???
very nice post..Thanks for sharing this but can you provide some more details about Internet and Safety?
ReplyDelete