The New Sarcasm Punctuation Mark

kandela writes "The Telegraph is reporting that for a mere $1.99 you can download a new punctuation mark that will revolutionize communication online. The SarcMark, described as 'a dot inside a single spiral line,' is to be used just like a question mark or exclamation mark to indicate sarcasm. And for those worried that this company's unique invention may be shamelessly copied by eager and unscrupulous grammarians – grammarians being the type to quickly adopt new ideas without heed to proper procedure – fear not, the Michigan based company has applied for a patent to protect their invention."

I'll surely rush out and buy this right away.

[jayme0227]

Oh wait, since I haven't bought the SarcMark, you can't tell that I was being sarcastic.

Scarcasm...

[Vanderhoth]

It's not always easy to convey sarcasm in e-mails. I like the idea of having a punctuation mark like a question, or exclamation mark to capture sarcasm. Then people will know when I'm mocking them rather then thinking that I agree with them. That's a GREAT idea~

(s)

[scorp1us]

Works just as fine for me.

Re:

[scorp1us]

Prior art notice: I've been using this for years, ever since I learned in college (1994-2001) that sarcasm isn't transmitted by electrons (text).

Re:

[MakinBacon]

Iteresting point. People have been using the fake XML sarcasm tag to indicate sarcasm for yeats, and on some forums I've seen that people end sarcastic sentences with /s. Shouldn't this count as prior art and negate their patent claims?

Re:

[scorp1us]

No because its unique. They definitely can't patent it, its not an inventions. But they can trademark it.

I see /s as ok too, but I would worry about s/, in which I would expect to see a perl-style substitution.

I, for one, am thrilled to pieces!

[Locke2005]

I am absolutely thrilled to pieces with this fantastic innovation! Previous to this, it was impossible to tell when someone was actually being sarcastic in written form, but now... well, now even the most dim-witted of reader will be able to determine when someone isn't being sincere in their high praise of "fantastic innovations"!

They didn't do their research

[dsavi]

There is already an "Irony mark", already implemented and a standard part of the basic fonts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_mark [wikipedia.org] Hurray for obscurity! (Is that even how you use it?)

Re:

[dsavi]

It looks like /. strips out that character. Nevermind.

Snarky

[Q-Hack!]

There has been a push in the past to use the tilde at the end of a sentence to represent either snarky or sarcasm.

I am all for it~

let the market decide

[bstender]

grammarians being the type to quickly adopt new ideas without heed to proper procedure
whoa, was this supposed to be a sarcastic statement? i think a sarcmark would remove the mystery, to my displeasure. seriously. but, love the copulative compound. (?)

the alternative

[FuckingNickName]

As a cynical old fool, I think I would be better served by a punctuation mark to indicate that, for once, no sarcasm is intended@

debian

[phrostie]

looks like the debian logo to me.

Why not just use an existing character

[jolyonr]

For example, the spanish inverted exclamation mark would work fine.

Re:

[qubezz]

New punctuation...are you serious (insert Interrobang [wikipedia.org] here)