Formalized Denotation of Sarcasm and Rhetorical Questions
If you've been using the Internet for any reasonable amount of time, you have no doubt encountered situations where sarcasm was interpreted literally, or vice versa.
You know, something like:
A: Hey do you want to go out to lunch tomorrow?
B: With you? Who wouldn't?
A: Great! How's noon?
B: ... that was supposed to be sarcastic. I don't like you.
Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way for B to denote that sarcastic rhetorical question⸮ Oh, there it is!
It turns out the percontation point, ⸮, has existed for almost 500 years but fell out of popular usage some time in the 17th century.[1] Traditionally used to specify a rhetorical question, I propose that it should also be used to denote sarcasm, perhaps as a parenthetical "(⸮)" if your teeth-gnashing happens to be in the form of a statement rather than a question.
Here are some example usages:
Wow, it was definitely necessary to write a blog post about this (⸮). You've made a meaningful contribution to Internet communications (⸮). I bet you're proud of yourself, huh⸮
Maybe that's a bit excessive. Surely none of my hundreds of few readers would respond so critically to this post.
This may be one of the few cases where it's easier to do something on Windows than on a Mac.
On Windows, ALT+1567 on the Numpad will yield this lovely punctuation mark.
On Mac, it's slightly trickier — press ⌘⌥T (Command+Option+t) to bring up the Character Viewer. Now click the menu button in the top left corner of the Viewer and select "Customize List...". Check the box next to "., Punctuation - All" and click "Done". Now find ⸮ near the bottom of the characters in the "., Punctuation - All" category and add it to your Favorites. Any time you would like to use it just bring up the Character Viewer, go to Favorites, and double-click.
There you have it. Use this mark wisely lest you find yourself with many fewer friends.
