SHADY CHARACTERS

Every day we rely on punctuation marks to help us say what we mean, but where did they come from?

Consider the ampersand (&), which started life as Pompeian graffiti, or the at sign (@), which languished in obscurity for centuries until rescued by the Internet. Whether investigating what the pilcrow (¶) has to do with medieval Christianity or what became of many ill-fated attempts to produce a standard sarcasm mark, Shady Characters provides a charming and indispensable perspective on two thousand years of the written word across time, alphabets, and countries. Keith Houston is the creator of the Shady Characters blog. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.