Comments on: Emphasize *this* http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html Brain candy for Happy Mutants Sat, 18 May 2013 13:10:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: kiptw http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1651801 kiptw Mon, 11 Feb 2013 02:20:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1651801 I recall seeing *sigh* in apas. I commented on it around 1980, when I thought it was a mindless cliche, but there was apparently plenty of life left in it. Five years before that, we were using abbreviations in places that would later take emoticons, like S,AS (Smiling, Always Smiling) as the "please don't hit me for saying this" smiley face. "Ook" and "Ook, Ook" stood in for ROFL and LOL and so on, at least in the small circles I was in. I recall seeing *sigh* in apas. I commented on it around 1980, when I thought it was a mindless cliche, but there was apparently plenty of life left in it. Five years before that, we were using abbreviations in places that would later take emoticons, like S,AS (Smiling, Always Smiling) as the “please don’t hit me for saying this” smiley face. “Ook” and “Ook, Ook” stood in for ROFL and LOL and so on, at least in the small circles I was in.

]]> By: Ernest Valdemar http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1650676 Ernest Valdemar Sat, 09 Feb 2013 05:11:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1650676 Nope. I started in publishing just as electronic prepress was taking off, but I still marked up at least a dozen galley proofs on repro using a blue wax pencil. It's underline for italics (with <em>ital</em> circled in the margin) and wavy underline for bold (<em>bold</em> circled in the margin). I can't say for certain that other houses didn't do it differently, but my example is about as industry-standard as it gets. Nope. I started in publishing just as electronic prepress was taking off, but I still marked up at least a dozen galley proofs on repro using a blue wax pencil. It’s underline for italics (with ital circled in the margin) and wavy underline for bold (bold circled in the margin).

I can’t say for certain that other houses didn’t do it differently, but my example is about as industry-standard as it gets.

]]> By: ohbejoyful http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1650547 ohbejoyful Sat, 09 Feb 2013 01:18:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1650547 Outlook does it as well. Outlook does it as well.

]]> By: dm10003 http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1650310 dm10003 Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:07:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1650310 "Scare quotes" have been around since at least WWII where quotes around a word were used for emphasis. The asterisk seems like it's doing the same thing only less confusing with quote mark for quotes. “Scare quotes” have been around since at least WWII where quotes around a word were used for emphasis. The asterisk seems like it’s doing the same thing only less confusing with quote mark for quotes.

]]> By: Lemoutan http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649789 Lemoutan Fri, 08 Feb 2013 11:41:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649789 Please accept this hand-crafted, individually wrapped, applau. Please accept this hand-crafted, individually wrapped, applau.

]]> By: userw014 http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649653 userw014 Fri, 08 Feb 2013 04:26:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649653 Back in the 80s, one of the University of Michigan academic mainframe's most popular applications was CONFERII (Confer 2), a massive multi-user social networking system.  It supported a huge number of discussion boards, and the mainframe was hooked up to GTE Telenet (later Sprintnet) and Autonet for worldwide access. On that system, printing was accomplished by copying a file to a pseudo-file called *PRINT* - and there was a word processing system (STAT:TEXTEDIT) that used the _underline_ convention and may have used the *BOLD* convention.  You could also use something called *BATCH* to submit sets of commands for later execution, and could request access to 9-track tapes and create your own *TAPENAME* of your choosing. While this academic mainframe's OS (MTS) wasn't widely distributed - it was (slightly), and it was open to everyone. The people who used this system went on to a great deal of things. While I doubt that *PRINT* was the primary player in this convention of *BOLD*, I think it had an influence.  A supporting character, as it were. Back in the 80s, one of the University of Michigan academic mainframe’s most popular applications was CONFERII (Confer 2), a massive multi-user social networking system.  It supported a huge number of discussion boards, and the mainframe was hooked up to GTE Telenet (later Sprintnet) and Autonet for worldwide access.

On that system, printing was accomplished by copying a file to a pseudo-file called *PRINT* – and there was a word processing system (STAT:TEXTEDIT) that used the _underline_ convention and may have used the *BOLD* convention.  You could also use something called *BATCH* to submit sets of commands for later execution, and could request access to 9-track tapes and create your own *TAPENAME* of your choosing.

While this academic mainframe’s OS (MTS) wasn’t widely distributed – it was (slightly), and it was open to everyone. The people who used this system went on to a great deal of things.

While I doubt that *PRINT* was the primary player in this convention of *BOLD*, I think it had an influence.  A supporting character, as it were.

]]> By: Deidzoeb http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649627 Deidzoeb Fri, 08 Feb 2013 03:27:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649627 Reading this makes me want to stand on the pitcher's mound in the rain until I catch pneumonia and die. *SIGH* Reading this makes me want to stand on the pitcher’s mound in the rain until I catch pneumonia and die. *SIGH*

]]> By: cellocgw http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649544 cellocgw Fri, 08 Feb 2013 01:06:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649544 AFAIK  asterisks for bold and underbars for italics are semi-ancient galley proof designators, used by editors and publishers long before electronic digital communication came into being. AFAIK  asterisks for bold and underbars for italics are semi-ancient galley proof designators, used by editors and publishers long before electronic digital communication came into being.

]]> By: Doc_S http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649517 Doc_S Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:29:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649517  I've pretty much universally used asterisks for emphasis, while noting sounds, asides and tacet actions in the form of ::facepalm:: ::sigh:: ::thud:: and so on.  I’ve pretty much universally used asterisks for emphasis, while noting sounds, asides and tacet actions in the form of ::facepalm:: ::sigh:: ::thud:: and so on.

]]> By: LYNDON http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649502 LYNDON Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:18:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649502 Fair to say anyone who says "click images to embiggen" probably favours a flexible approach to language. *nods in approval* Fair to say anyone who says “click images to embiggen” probably favours a flexible approach to language. *nods in approval*

]]> By: jbond http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649438 jbond Thu, 07 Feb 2013 22:46:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649438 /me *stabs* EvilTerran /me *stabs* EvilTerran

]]> By: Ernest Valdemar http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649367 Ernest Valdemar Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:19:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649367 <a href="http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4466" rel="nofollow">Ben Zimmer at Language Log chimes in</a>, with some comic-strip antedates and links to linguistics scholarship. Ben Zimmer at Language Log chimes in, with some comic-strip antedates and links to linguistics scholarship.

]]> By: Wreckrob8 http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649213 Wreckrob8 Thu, 07 Feb 2013 19:13:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649213 *encore* *encore* *encore* *encore* *encore* *encore*

]]> By: -hms- http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649211 -hms- Thu, 07 Feb 2013 19:11:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649211  Cleverbot seems to recognize and prefer the asterisks as action descriptions as well: http://cleverbot.com/j2convbydate-wk19800  Cleverbot seems to recognize and prefer the asterisks as action descriptions as well: http://cleverbot.com/j2convbydate-wk19800

]]> By: Tavie http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649187 Tavie Thu, 07 Feb 2013 18:59:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649187 *God*, this thread is amazing. *God*, this thread is amazing.

]]> By: awjt http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649151 awjt Thu, 07 Feb 2013 18:23:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649151 Yes.  It screams, "If you're going to bother to emphasize AND shout, you might as well come over here and tell me to my face."  ‽Sheesh‽ Yes.  It screams, “If you’re going to bother to emphasize AND shout, you might as well come over here and tell me to my face.”  ‽Sheesh‽

]]> By: Felton / Moderator http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649105 Felton / Moderator Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:29:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649105 You may be right, but I need to think about it for a while.  *Exit upstage right. Lights. Curtain.* You may be right, but I need to think about it for a while.  *Exit upstage right. Lights. Curtain.*

]]> By: GlyphGryph http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649095 GlyphGryph Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:16:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649095 And ~this~ indicates a musical emphasis and indicates a translation! Except here, because there's a weird enforced closed-tag-matching-script running, hah, so it is about to look weird. And ~this~ indicates a musical emphasis and indicates a translation! Except here, because there’s a weird enforced closed-tag-matching-script running, hah, so it is about to look weird.

]]> By: GlyphGryph http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649093 GlyphGryph Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:15:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649093  Yeah, like I said - they definitely are used for emphasis, but all of his examples were (and thanks to the one who remembered the term) stage directions! With the large amount of appropriate examples, it's weird that he went with those.  Yeah, like I said – they definitely are used for emphasis, but all of his examples were (and thanks to the one who remembered the term) stage directions! With the large amount of appropriate examples, it’s weird that he went with those.

]]> By: aliktren http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649087 aliktren Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:11:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649087 I blame Neverwinter Nights. I blame Neverwinter Nights.

]]> By: Joel Finkle http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649074 Joel Finkle Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:44:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649074 I'd be willing to bet that "prior art" exists in the comic book world.  Particularly when lettering was all hand done (instead of the current typefaces that look like hand lettering), and nearly all caps, there were a lot of plaintext emphasis items.  I know that things such as "" (with a footnote "translated from the Russian") existed in the late 70s.  I'd be willing to be you can find *cough* and *sigh* in Archies much older than that. I’d be willing to bet that “prior art” exists in the comic book world.  Particularly when lettering was all hand done (instead of the current typefaces that look like hand lettering), and nearly all caps, there were a lot of plaintext emphasis items.  I know that things such as “” (with a footnote “translated from the Russian”) existed in the late 70s.  I’d be willing to be you can find *cough* and *sigh* in Archies much older than that.

]]> By: trondmm http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649069 trondmm Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:37:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649069 It was very common in the BBS days to use extra characters to mean *bold* _underline_ and /italics/. A proper client would even display the text with the proper emphasis. It was very common in the BBS days to use extra characters to mean *bold* _underline_ and /italics/. A proper client would even display the text with the proper emphasis.

]]> By: Chris S http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649063 Chris S Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:29:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649063 If you use his own strategy and add other terms to the Ngram viewer, you can check some of these ideas. It turns out that it definitely was *not* just for asides and actions. If you run this view.... http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=%5B*cough*%5D%2C%5B*sigh*%5D%2C%5B*really*%5D%2C%5B*must*%5D%2C%5B*not*%5D&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=5&share= Then you will see that *not* dominates all the others, and *really* and *must* were bigger than *sigh* and *cough* until about 2003. I would agree with him that this is heavily Internet-driven, in that we needed alternatives for a "shift in style or voice" when we had neither italics, or even the underline you could easily use in cursive writing. The sudden rise in *sigh* and *cough* would, I think, connect with the widespread use of informal text communications -- not just email, but text messaging and instant messaging, where the users wanted not just an informal tone, but a conversational tone. If you use his own strategy and add other terms to the Ngram viewer, you can check some of these ideas.

It turns out that it definitely was *not* just for asides and actions.

If you run this view….

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=%5B*cough*%5D%2C%5B*sigh*%5D%2C%5B*really*%5D%2C%5B*must*%5D%2C%5B*not*%5D&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=5&share=

Then you will see that *not* dominates all the others, and *really* and *must* were bigger than *sigh* and *cough* until about 2003.

I would agree with him that this is heavily Internet-driven, in that we needed alternatives for a “shift in style or voice” when we had neither italics, or even the underline you could easily use in cursive writing. The sudden rise in *sigh* and *cough* would, I think, connect with the widespread use of informal text communications — not just email, but text messaging and instant messaging, where the users wanted not just an informal tone, but a conversational tone.

]]> By: bardfinn http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649041 bardfinn Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:06:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649041 The convention I have observed is that asterisks are used for emotes - that is, to delineate actions, such as : *hugs* *kisses* *sighs* *blinks* *izded* — whereas /this/ usage is emphasis-emphasis, THIS usage is urgent-emphasis, _this_ usage is strong-emphasis, and -this- usage is ironic-emphasis (also –this– and —this— and this), "this" as the famous "scare-quotes", delineating mockery and sarcasm, Square brackets, XML tags, hashtags notating aspects and attributes. The convention I have observed is that asterisks are used for emotes – that is, to delineate actions, such as :

*hugs*
*kisses*
*sighs*
*blinks*
*izded*

— whereas /this/ usage is emphasis-emphasis, THIS usage is urgent-emphasis, _this_ usage is strong-emphasis, and -this- usage is ironic-emphasis (also –this– and —this— and this),

“this” as the famous “scare-quotes”, delineating mockery and sarcasm,

Square brackets, XML tags, hashtags notating aspects and attributes.

]]> By: RadioSilence http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649043 RadioSilence Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:06:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649043 I remember being on a band's email discussion list in the late-90s, in the days before forums became popular, and we always used *asterisks* in the place of italics, as the emails were all in plain-text.  I remember being on a band’s email discussion list in the late-90s, in the days before forums became popular, and we always used *asterisks* in the place of italics, as the emails were all in plain-text. 

]]> By: franko http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649040 franko Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:05:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649040 to be *honest*, i use BOTH, but never *SIMULTANEOUSLY*, because that would look ridiculous. to be *honest*, i use BOTH, but never *SIMULTANEOUSLY*, because that would look ridiculous.

]]> By: franko http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649039 franko Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:04:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649039 *exactly* *exactly*

]]> By: -hms- http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649038 -hms- Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649038 I agree, the examples, like sigh and cough seem to be going down the branch of usage more related to the exaggerations-for-humor such as *flips desk* *runs out of room*, or *cries softly to self* implying more of a stage direction than emphasis. I agree, the examples, like sigh and cough seem to be going down the branch of usage more related to the exaggerations-for-humor such as *flips desk* *runs out of room*, or *cries softly to self* implying more of a stage direction than emphasis.

]]> By: James Agenbroad http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649030 James Agenbroad Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:47:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649030  You kids and your fancy seven bit ASCII...who really needs separate upper and lower case in your character set?  If you really need them you can toggle between them with an upper case or lower case character and fit your character set into six bits.  FIELDATA should be good enough.  You kids and your fancy seven bit ASCII…who really needs separate upper and lower case in your character set?  If you really need them you can toggle between them with an upper case or lower case character and fit your character set into six bits.  FIELDATA should be good enough.

]]> By: Steve Durfee http://boingboing.net/2013/02/07/emphasize-this.html#comment-1649021 Steve Durfee Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:33:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=211540#comment-1649021 This was one convention in the seventies when we only had seven and eight bit ASCII. There weren't enough characters for additional alphabets, so instead we used *italics* and _underline_. This was one convention in the seventies when we only had seven and eight bit ASCII. There weren’t enough characters for additional alphabets, so instead we used *italics* and _underline_.

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