2012-01-14
Explanation
This comic presents a guide to "Infrequently Used Punctuation Marks," each shown with a symbol, its meaning, and a sample usage. The marks include: a sarcasm mark (a reversed question mark), used to indicate insincere praise; a seriousness mark (a trapezoidal shape), to clarify that a drunken declaration of love is genuine; a "sexyness" mark (a variant with a suggestive curve), to add flirtation to the same phrase; an existential dread mark (a boxed design), expressing hollow hope that a latte might bring happiness; a "double seriousness" mark that maps to sarcasm; and finally a mark for statements "said in such a manner that it could be taken as serious or joking depending on reaction."
The comic satirizes the long-standing desire for a written sarcasm indicator and the broader difficulty of conveying tone in text. Each invented punctuation mark addresses a real gap in written communication -- we genuinely lack reliable ways to signal sarcasm, sincerity, or flirtation in text. The final mark is especially clever, capturing the common social maneuver of making an ambiguous statement (here, "we should sleep together") and waiting to see how it lands before committing to whether you meant it. The humor escalates from practical to absurd, highlighting how much nuance is lost when we write rather than speak.