From Shady Characters

Licensing

Unless otherwise noted, all material is copyright of Keith Houston. Please feel free to:

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2 comments on “Licensing

  1. Comment posted by MJ Halberstadt on

    Hey Keith – I loved the book and have gifted copies to several friends who, in turn, have loved it themselves! It has been especially stimulating to me as a playwright who sometimes enjoys futzing around with punctuation marks in ways that are grammatically incorrect but help reach a greater sense of truth. I’m also beginning to write a romantic comedy about a copywriter and copy editor ; the working title is “Misuse of Apostrophe’s”. Anyway, my question for you is about parentheses. In your research, have you happened to find individual names for a “(” and “)”? Or are they simply an “open parenthesis” and “closed parenthesis” respectively? Many thanks! Hope you are well,
    -MJ

    1. Comment posted by Keith Houston on

      Hi MJ,

      My understanding is that these — “()” — are most often called parentheses, though in the UK we sometimes call them brackets instead. Personally, I’d call them opening and closing parentheses. These — “[]” — are square brackets and these — “{}” — are braces, but I’d think you could mix and match the naming as you saw fit and that any reasonably literate audience member would understand what you mean.

      I think you’re entirely within your rights to mess around with punctuation! There’s no correct or incorrect way to use it, only conventional and unconventional. In the context of a play there must be a huge amount of scope for subtlety when it comes to pauses, inflection and so on — maybe you should start throwing in an interrobang or two!

      Thanks for the comment!

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