My New Punctuation Mark
Theo Macklin
Casm: ¡
The English language is limited in its literary form by its two meagre expressions of nuance: the exclamation and question marks. The lack of description, nuance and intonation conveyed by punctuation has led to the rise of emoticons in common usage. This is a perversion of the English language. The casm seeks to increase the range of meaning in direct speech or an address. This mark implies meaning in a sentence in the form of humour, insincerity or sarcasm. The casm is intended for use in direct speech and narrative wherein the narrator addresses the audience directly. These are the chief parts of literature where humour, insincerity and sarcasm are used. The physical mark of the casm takes the form of an upside down exclamation mark ( ¡ ), which I have chosen thanks to a punctuation mark, used in some Ethiopic languages, of a vaguely similar purpose. The casm is put at the end of a sentence, in the same way as most English punctuation. The casm will replace a full stop or exclamation mark at the end of a sentence that is designed to convey humour, insincerity or sarcasm. The function of the casm varies according to its context and the content of the sentence or clause. The range of the casm in the sentence stretches back to the last: full stop, semicolon, hyphen, question mark or exclamation mark. The casm when placed at the end of a bracketed sentence encompasses the entire content of the brackets. On some occasions sarcasm and insincerity arise in the form of a question and so the quasm (¿) is used.
The Casm to show Comedic Intent
Often in literature an author will write a sentence in dialogue which is intended to be humorous or light-hearted. For reasons that vary, person to person, culture to culture, such a remark may not be interpreted in the author’s intended light. This may spoil a story or confuse the reader as to the character who made the remark’s intention. The casm can help rectify this issue by announcing the dialogue to have had a comedic purpose even if this was not realized by the reader at the time. This would show that the remark was not just a blatant quip or insult towards a person or group.
As an example of the casm as an aid to comedic value:
‘Depression is a side effect of dying. (Cancer is also a side effect of dying. Almost everything is, really.)’
With casm:
‘Depression is a side effect of dying. (Cancer is also a side effect of dying. Almost everything is, really¡)’ John Green, The Fault In Our Stars
The Casm to Show Sarcasm or Insincerity
Sarcasm in literature will sometimes cause confusion to the reader for it may appear solely as contradiction. When spoken an intonation is put on the voice that helps to distinguish it. But sarcasm and insincerity are very specific forms of humour that is sometimes too subtle to be picked out of literature. The casm notifies the reader that a remark was sarcastic or insincere which can give characterization to the speaker and help distinguish their honest opinion from the contradiction.
56
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker