h a l f b a k e r yIs it soup yet?
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Every so often, particarly here on the HB, I get a Eureka
moment.
Hang on. Sorry. I don't mean that I suddenly conceive a
brilliant concept (although, obviously, that does happen
frequently). What I mean is that I suddenly "get"
something or, more often, suddenly realize that
something
I thought was simple and mundane is actually subtle and
fascinating and interesting.
Writing "Aha!", or even "aHA!" or "I see!" doesn't really
cover it. The exclamation mark is an expression of
surprise, anger, intensity or humour, but works poorly as
an indicator of personal revelation.
I'd therefore like to clutter our language* further by
adding
the Eureka mark. It would consist of an outlined
inverted
teardrop (pointy-bit downward) on top of a period.
This shape would look a little like conjoined-twin
question
marks, or perhaps like an obese exclamation mark (but
with an empty centre). These two affinities make it
appropriate as a punctuator which denotes revelation
and
wonderment.
It would also, by good fortune, look somewhat like the
proverbial lightbulb.
[*I say 'our'; obviously the French would be required to
devise their own symbol, if they found they had a use for
it.]
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Annotation:
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Who is this mysterious and profligate autobunner? |
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//Every so often,[...] I get a Eureka moment.// |
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"Yes, Edward, all the way to the front gate, and down the street!"
"Of course, sir; would you like to put something on, or shall I darken the windows?" |
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I thought this might be some kind of bathtub plimsoll line for potential geniuses. |
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[lurch] - never EVER address staff by their first name.
It is discomfiting for them, damaging for
discipline, and you only have to learn a new one
when their children inherit their role. |
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Your staff don't name all of their children after you?
How forgiving of you to overlook such blatant acts of
disloyalty. |
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They often ask to, but having a junior under-
pantryman called "M'lud Henshaw" would just be
confusing. |
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// something I thought was simple and mundane is
actually subtle and fascinating and interesting. // |
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Like flenting and associated flenting mediums, for
instance. |
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I was thinking more of the example that provoked
this - the question of how a planet's surface gravity
relates to the maximum surface atmospheric
pressure it can sustain, and the realization that it's a
complex and (by me) yet-to-be explored puzzle. |
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How would you know when the reader would "get it"? E.g. where to place the eureka mark? |
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Ah, no. It's more for the getter. In other words, I
might say "Ah - I see ø" (where "ø" is having to stand
in for a real eureka mark), but it would be difficult
to justify "So, that's how it works ø" |
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There should be an analogous mark for jokes,
indicating the point at which you "got it." As when
part of the audience anticipates the payoff, and
laughs early, and then the rest of them laugh after
the punchline's delivered. |
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I have seen a similar suggestion for rhetorical questions. It was sort of an exclamation mark superimposed over a question mark. As in "Are you kidding me!?" or "What the...!?" |
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Thanks [21 Quest]. Why didn't I know that ?! |
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Could there be a political version called Eureka Marx? This would feature a little bearded head of Karl Marx instead of the full stop component. |
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Would work nicely in the Bible. "And God said '@!,' and there was light." |
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I would think a *Eureka* mark should be shaped like a bath tub. |
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