woah is that an eng space? back 2 misc

experimental english

The Weirdo Punctuation You Don't Want:

1. LONG SPACE { ​ ​ ​ }

(note that i have to pad the long space with some ZWSs so it works correctly)
The long space is a series of three or more consecutive spaces, and it is extremely disorienting. It is decidedly different from the line break, and decidedly different from the stylistic double space after a period.


She tripped, and fell down.

She tripped, ​ ​ ​ and fell down.

She tripped,
and fell down.

Little Timmy bounced his ball over the wall. It didn't come back, and so he started bawling and howling instantly.

Little Timmy bounced his ball over the wall. ​ ​ ​ It didn't come back, and so he started bawling and howling instantly.

Little Timmy bounced his ball over the wall.
It didn't come back, and so he started bawling and howling instantly.

Don't you want to squeeze that last example back together? Don't you wanna fill that space with something, anything? The long space probably could serve to fuck with the reader for narrative profit. It's size and contrast against what would normally be filled with various scribbles in the text color of choice makes an excellent way to destroy the flow of the text, ​ ​ ​ and in a much different way than just messing with the fullstops and commas and other punctuation. The long space immediately draws attention to itself. In a paragraph, like this one, that would normally stand as a complete wall, it is a missing brick that destabilizes the entire structure. It's just a really fun experiment in what would happen if you fucked with spaces.


2. MODIFIED COMMA {?,} {!,}

In analogy with {?} and {!} being modified fullstops, {?,} and {!,} are modified commas.

"Hey!" he yapped, "Get over here!"
"Hey!," he yapped, "Get over here!"

What?, you don't think they can be parsed correctly? It's simple!, just skip the pause when you read it!


3. DOTTED DIPLE {>·}

The dotted diple represents what dubious-discuss represents. It may be used as an irony point, though sarcasm is best served obvious. My use derives from the diple periestigmene (translit. "διπλῆ περιεστιγμένη", very roughly 'double, points around'), a mark of Aristarchus which may have either the form I use, or a colon around the diple. It could probably be used as a form of brackets, >·like this·<. If need be it could be {>-}


4. INTERPUNCT {·}

The interpunct is a small dot in the midline of a text. I use it to denote chanted or otherwise rhythmic voice, e.g. "I sup·pose!"

to be continued......