I recently became aware of a whole bunch of obscure punctuation marks that I never knew existed. As a result of this discovery, I’ve created a series of images that honor these obscure punctuation marks. Not sure anyone will ever actually use these punctuation marks but you could try to using them now and again. Nobody will know what they’re for and they’ll be too afraid to ask. And if that’s not smirk-worthy, nothing is.
The Pilcrow is a current-day proofreaders’ mark that is used to identify a paragraph and to point out where there ought to be a paragraph break. In editorial production, the pilcrow typographic character is also known as the paragraph mark.
The Pilcrow’s original Greek form, a simple horizontal line in the left margin of texts, was called a paragraphos. Later, symbols representing the paragraphos, including the pilcrow, were translated into Old French as paragraphe and then pelagraphe. Somehow, the Middle English word pylcrafte turns up somewhere in the mid-15th century. Even more arbitrary than the centuries-long change that turned paragraphos into “pilcrow,” though, is the scattered development of the contemporary symbol representing The Pilcrow.
Like some other specialized pieces of punctuation in my series of Punctuation Art, The Pilcrow cannot be found on a computer keyboard. Guess you never expected to learn a thing or two while rambling through some guy’s Abstract Art Tumbler page, did ya?
So there you have it. Chances are small that you will ever use The Pilcrow in your day to day life but should you suddenly find yourself on a TV Gameshow and this thing pops up as a Topic or in a Question - use this knowledge freely and march forward with confidence to the Lightning Round. You’re Welcome!
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