The irony mark or irony point (⸮) (French: point d’ironie) is a punctuation mark proposed by the French poet Alcanter de Brahm (alias Marcel Bernhardt) at the end of the 19th century used to indicate that a sentence should be understood at a second level (irony, sarcasm, etc.). It is illustrated by a small, elevated, backward-facing question mark.
It was in turn taken by Hervé Bazin in his book Plumons l’Oiseau ("Let's pluck the bird," 1966), where the author however used another (ψ-like) shape. In doing this, the author proposed five other innovative punctuation marks: the "doubt point", "certitude point", "acclamation point", "authority point", and "love point" .
In March 2007, the Dutch foundation CPNB (Collectieve Propaganda van het Nederlandse Boek) presented another design of an irony mark .
Read more about this topic: Ironicon
Famous quotes containing the words irony and/or mark:
“Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding.”
—Agnes Repplier (1858–1950)
“I am thankful to God for this approval of the people. But while deeply grateful for this mark of their confidence in me, if I know my heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal triumph. I do not impugn the motives of any one opposed to me. It is no pleasure to me to triumph over any one.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)