Punctuation: how do I use '※ ※ ※' to separate ideas?
Recently I saw these '※ ※ ※' being used like I've never seen before. I'm used to seeing ※ ※ ※ used after large blocks of text, generally to signify a new location, time, or thought. It made me wonder, what is the correct usage of ※ ※ ※, and what on earth are these characters called?
Here is the example:
But here he was, confronting his fears, like no one else ever would. He looked at the door. It was made of gold. He then woke up.
※ ※ ※
"When will I rid myself of these garnish nightmares?" he said, waking up.
He flashed back to her golden hair in the moonlight.
※ ※ ※
He then woke up again. Momentums rained the straps upon its horses; Rabbits lining up to a restaurant to eat decomposing rabbits.
Basically, these are ornate bullets, Iain. My grandpa was an old typesetter (the kind that did it by hand) and one of the books he published was a collection of poems about printing. In it, he included a lot of pictures that he had made when he was young, using all of the ornate characters from various types. (They didn't call them fonts back then.) We now have basic emoticons, but these were many lines of type, set just beautifully. I'm drawing a blank at the moment for a name for these characters, but I think he used one. I am out of town & can't check his old books.
The characters are definitely being used as a matter of style and to indicate a break of some sort. This passage seems to have a break (of time?) between each time he woke up. In fiction and advertising, the rules can always be bent or even broken with poetic license. Style can take precedence.
An aside about that book of poems...
I distinctly remember one poem from 1904. It was titled something like "The Estimator's Lament." The poor printing printing estimator was so frustrated by the print buyer's constant insistance that things get done right away. Why does everyone need their printing done so much faster these days? Ha! Over a hundred years later and the lament is the same.
|link||answered Feb 18 '13 at 13:34 Patty T Grammarly Fellow|
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