Shady Characters

Writing

Here are some of the articles and reviews I’ve written elsewhere.

• “5 Punctuation Marks That Look Nothing Like They Used To.” The Huffington Post, October 10, 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-houston-/post_8467_b_5989482.html.
• “8 Punctuation Marks That Are No Longer Used.” The Huffington Post, September 24, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-houston-/post_5696_b_3976733.html.
• “A Brief History of the # and the @.” Penguin Blog. Penguin Books, April 22, 2015. http://penguinblog.co.uk/2015/04/22/a-brief-history-of-the-and-the-by-keith-houston/.
• “Hats Off to the Circumflex.” New York Times, February 19, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/20/opinion/hats-off-to-the-circumflex.html.
• “How Complex Math and Human Innovation Created the Calculator.” Literary Hub, August 31, 2023. https://lithub.com/how-complex-math-and-human-innovation-created-the-calculator/.
• “Irony.” Grammar Girl, September 26, 2013. http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/irony-0.
• “Marks of Distinction.” Wall Street Journal, 2015. http://www.wsj.com/articles/marks-of-distinction-1445023773.
• “Punctuation That Failed to Make Its Mark.” BBC.com Culture, November 4, 2015. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20151104-punctuation-that-failed-to-make-its-mark.
• “Rain on Your Wedding Day.” New Statesman, no. 18-24 October (2013): 32–34.
• “Smile! A History of Emoticons.” Wall Street Journal, September 27, 2013. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304213904579093661814158946.html.
• “The Ancient Roots of Punctuation.” Page Turner, September 6, 2013. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/09/origins-of-hashtag-manicule-diple-pilcrow-ampersand-explained.html.
• “The Early History of Counting.” Lapham’’s Quarterly, August 23, 2023. https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/early-history-counting.
• “The Emoji Tongue.” Longreads, July 1, 2025. https://longreads.com/2025/07/01/emoji-language-keith-houston/.
• “The Evolution of Punctuating Paragraphs Through 5 Specific Markers.” Mental Floss, October 20, 2015. http://mentalfloss.com/article/69847/evolution-punctuating-paragraphs-through-5-specific-markers.
• “The History of #—and 6 Other Symbols That Rule Twitter (and the Web).” Time.com, September 23, 2013. http://ideas.time.com/2013/09/23/the-history-of-and-6-other-symbols-that-rule-twitter-and-the-web/.
• “The List: Keith Houston on Four Unusual Punctuation Marks.” Financial Times, October 2, 2013. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/a7ebcafe-207a-11e3-9a9a-00144feab7de.html#axzz2gyf7GjrZ.
• “The Mysterious Manicule.” Lexicon Valley, September 30, 2013. http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/09/30/the_manicule_a_hand_with_a_pointing_index_finger_becomes_a_common_marginalia.html.
• “The Mysterious Origins of Punctuation.” BBC.com Culture, 2015. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150902-the-mysterious-origins-of-punctuation.
• “The Rise and Fall of the Infamous SarcMark.” The Daily Beast, September 24, 2013. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/24/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-infamous-sarcmark.html.
• “The Rise and Fall of the Pilcrow, Part I.” Lexicon Valley, September 25, 2013. http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/09/25/the_pilcrow_how_the_paragraph_punctuation_mark_evolved_from_ancient_greece.html.
• “The Rise and Fall of the Pilcrow, Part II.” Lexicon Valley, September 26, 2013. http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/09/26/the_pilcrow_how_the_paragraph_mark_evolved_from_ancient_greece_and_rome.html.
• “Un Maximum de Sens Dans Un Minimum d’espace: L’histoire de La Ponctuation.” Hiatus, La Revue, no. April (2013).

Radio

I’ve appeared on a number of radio programmes and podcasts:

• 99% Invisible
• BBC Radio 4’s Word of Mouth with Michael Rosen
• BBC World Service’s More or Less with Tim Harford
• Newstalk’s Moncrieff programme
• Radio NZ’s Nine to Noon
• ABC Radio National’s Sunday Extra
• ABC Radio Adelaide’s Drive with Jules Schiller
• ABC’s Late Night Live
• Monocle’s Section D
• WGBH’s Innovation Hub
• The Browser’s Radio Browser
• History Hit’s Patented podcast
• KPCW’s Cool Science Radio
• SETI’s Big Picture Science
• The Economist’s The Intelligence
• Alan Alda’s Clear and Vivid
• AMSE’s Science Report
• Mignon Fogarty’s Grammar Girl

My second book, The Book, was BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week for the week of the 14^th of May, 2018.

If you’d like me to write for your publication or to appear on your show, please get in touch.