If punctuation and typography turns you on, you’ll want to brace yourself for these underused punctuation marks that look absolutely delectable. Many of these symbols are rarely used for obvious reasons once you learn their purpose, but regardless — we love their shapes, meanings, and fascinating origins. If you don’t know the difference between a hedera and a section sign, read on. Click through for a peek at a few of our favorite underused punctuation marks. Then, head on over to BuzzFeed for more fascinating signs and symbols.
obelus |ˈäbələs| noun ( pl. -li |-ˌlī|) 1 a symbol (†) used as a reference mark in printed matter, or to indicate that a person is deceased. Also called dagger . 2 a mark (– or ÷) used in ancient texts to mark a word or passage as spurious, corrupt, or doubtful.
[Witch House much?]
” … Used mainly to refer to a particular section of a document, such as a legal code.”
“The hedera was used in Latin texts as a punctuation mark between paragraphs in long documents, when line breaks weren’t as common, similar to the pilcrow.”
“Used to denote individual paragraphs … The pilcrow can be used as an indent for separate paragraphs or to designate a new paragraph in one long piece of copy … “