Keith Houston

Before email came along, “@” was an unremarkable symbol. After email came along, it became one of the most widely known marks in the world. From the Shady Characters archive, follow the at-symbol′s rise from obscurity to ubiquity: shadycharacters.co.u....

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shadycharacters.co.ukManicule (1)

A tremendous manicule thread here from Daniel Bellingradt! And as ever, there's plenty more to read about the ‘☞’ at Shady Characters (shadycharacters.co.uk/tag/manicule/).

Daniel Bellingradt@dbellingradt.bsky.social

☞ ☞ ☞ the index finger is a pointing gesture to be found in manuscript and print traditions. It was used to draw the reader's attention to a certain part of a text or image. This slow-moving thread highlight a few of them:

Keith Houston reposted

Because Language (becauselangpod)

@becauselanguage.com

New episode! It's okay to play with punctuation. Florence Hazrat tells us about the history of the marks we use, and who the heavy hitters were. @basicbooksgroup.bsky.social Book here: books.apple.com/us/book/on-t... Episode here: becauselanguage.com/148-on-the-m...

@michaelrosenyes.bsky.social

Miscellany № 113, now up! Featuring asterisks, every Unicode character, and the merest smattering of AI. Read at shadycharacters.co.u....

Keith Houston reposted

Michael Rosen

Where did punctuation come from? Today on @BBCRadio4 'Word of Mouth'. Scholar Florence Hazrat grapples with commas, semi-colons and the rest: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

bbc.co.ukBBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth, Where Did Punctuation Come From?Michael Rosen discovers punctuation through the ages with writer Florence Hazrat.

& then...? From the Shady Characters archive, delve into the history of the ampersand, or “and” sign, which goes all the way back to ancient Rome. Start at shadycharacters.co.u... to understand the hows & whys of this most elegant mark.

heraldscotland.comNinety programmes to close at leading university as savings plan takes shapeAccording to the document, a total of 90 programmes will be “taught out” over the next several years, including 48 in the School of Language.

18 Sept

As an Edinburgh graduate, this seems Very Bad

Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco@joshpizpom.bsky.social

EXC: 90 programmes in Edinburgh University's College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences are to be closed. The casualties, which include 48 language and literature programmes, will be 'taught out', w/ no admissions after 2027. @heraldscotland.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/news/2655839...

7 Sept

The unfortunate truth is that PLR is pennies per loan. Only exceptionally successful writers will make enough money for PLR to move the needle on their finances - which great for them, of course! I wouldn't begrudge them it.

It's Pipes, Mum! Pipes is here!@scriblit.bsky.social

Every time someone on here gets anxious about library use I like to slide in all 'diiiiid you know the author was probably better paid for your borrow by PLR than they would have been if you'd got it on sale from Amazon???'

7 Sept

Moreover, I wouldn't discourage a reader from borrowing any of my books. Please do so! Read them and review them and make a noise about them. But that said, I can't say I wouldn't have made substantially more money if they had bought it instead.

7 Sept

There's room for both libraries and bookshops out there, but when it comes to paying authors for their labour, there is, sadly, no competition.

6 Sept

From the Shady Characters archive comes the most iconic of all shady characters: the mighty, the maligned, the magnificent interrobang. Go to shadycharacters.co.u... to get the full story. (Image courtesy of Penny Speckter.)

5 Sept

Hello! I’m Keith. I’m a writer and software engineer in Scotland. I love the stop-start just after Norman Blake first sings “Was going nowhere” in Teenage Fanclub’s “Neil Jung”. A song, an album (Grand Prix) of absolute joy. Would you like to introduce yourself with a small song moment you like?

Tim Carmody@tcarmody.bsky.social

Hi! My name is Tim, and I’m a writer and editor in Philadelphia. I like how Bootsy Collins says “watch out!” in between verses of Deee-Lite’s “Groove Is In The Heart.” Everything Bootsy sings/says on that song is perfect. Would you like to introduce yourself with a small song moment you like?

4 Sept

Shady Characters × Because Language! I joined Daniel Midgley and Ben Ainslie recently to shoot the 💩 about emoji – there’s a taster at bsky.app/profile/bec... to see if it’s up your street, or you can dive into the full episode at shadycharacters.co.u.... Thanks to Daniel and Ben for having me on!

Because Language (becauselangpod)@becauselanguage.com

Emoji in medical notes? Yep, they're going all kinds of places they never have before. New live episode with Keith Houston, author of "Face With Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji". Watch or listen to the whole thing: becauselanguage.com/145-face-wit... @shadycharacters.co.uk @wwnorton.com

Because Language (becauselangpod)

3 Sept

I had a lot of fun recording this one. Thanks to @becauselanguage.com for having me on!

Because Language (becauselangpod)@becauselanguage.com

Keith Houston reposted

@becauselanguage.com

3 Sept

shadycharacters.co.ukShady CharactersThe secret life of punctuation

30 Aug

A quick question, now that the updated version of shadycharacters.co.uk has been live for a little while: have you noticed the difference? Any positives or negatives versus the old site? Please let me know here or at shadycharacters.co.u...!

23 Aug

From the Shady Characters archive: what exactly are we supposed to call this mark: “#”? Read about the long history of the octothorpe (or maybe the pound sign), and its many names, at shadycharacters.co.u....

Because Language (becauselangpod)

23 Aug

If you want more like this, you can sign up to the Shady Characters newsletter (shadycharacters.co.u...), paste the SC feed (shadycharacters.co.u...) into your favourite feed reader, or just hit the "Follow" button here.

Keith Houston reposted

@becauselanguage.com

14 Aug

Our next live show is happening 🔜 ! We're talking to @keithhouston.bsky.social about his new book "Face With Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji". All patrons are invited, including free. If you're not a patron, click through and sign up! www.patreon.com/becauselangp...

patreon.comLive show: Talking emoji with Keith Houston, 2026-08-15/16 | Because LanguageLive show: Talking emoji with Keith Houston, 2026-08-15/16 by Because Language on Patreon. Join Because Language's community for exclusive content and updates.

14 Aug

I'd add: and tell your friends about that writer, too

Emily C. Hughes@emilyhughes.bsky.social

if there's a writer you like, and you'd like to keep reading that writer's work, *you need to pay for their work*

youtube.comWhy we don't have a sarcasm markExplore lost punctuation‽ Yes please. And see how language shapes perspectives with Ground News. Use my link to get 40% off the Vantage plan: https://ground.news/robwords Why is there no punctuation mark for irony? Or to flag up a rhetorical question? Well, the fact is: there once was. Numerous in

7 Aug

A quick thank you to Rob Watts for inviting me to talk about sarcasm and irony marks on his YouTube channel, RobWords! There's a lot to like about his whistle-stop tour of the interrobang, ironieteken, and other symbols. Watch here:

Keith Houston reposted

Mignon Fogarty

@grammargirl.bsky.social

6 Aug

Type history meets weird words! My chat with type historian @glennf.com Glenn Fleishman covers printing history, comics, and his favorite printing word from the 1800s: "flong." :) Check it out on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

podcasts.apple.comHow comics are made, with Glenn FleishmanPodcast Episode · Grammar Girl · August 6 · 27m

26 July

Birds! Books! Bots! Bathrooms! (Okay, that last one is a stretch, but I'm going to say that a 13th century latrine still counts.) Miscellany № 112, which takes in all this, is now up at Shady Characters: shadycharacters.co.u.... Enjoy!

24 July

The Japanese translation of “Empire of the Sum” was published last year by Hara Shobo, but my own copy arrived in the post only the other day. What a nice edition! Many thanks to Hara Shobo for sending me one. Take a look at http://www.harashobo... if you′re interested in ordering a copy! 1/2

24 July

As a note, there are translations of my books into Chinese (complex and simple characters), Korean and Polish, with at least a couple more languages potentially on the way. Head over to shadycharacters.co.u... to find out more! 2/2

17 July

It's World Emoji Day! 🍾🎉 I was wondering what to post about today when I came across this incredible post on Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/peo.... 10/10, no notes, as they say. The poop emoji's time has come. 1/2

Steve Held@peoplesfabric.bsky.social

Putting this page in a time capsule

99percentinvisible.orgEmoji Law 😅⚖️ - 99% InvisibleIn 2021, a Canadian farmer named Chris Achter responded to a buyer’s grain contract with a simple 👍 emoji. What followed wasn’t just a misunderstanding—it was a legal showdown that captured global attention. Achter, based in Saskatchewan, had a long-standing business relationship with the buyer. They often finalized grain deals over text. That year, when

17 July

For more on the poop emoji, listen to 99percentinvisible.o...; for more on emoji in general, grab a copy of shadycharacters.co.u.... 2/2

Keith Houston reposted

Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele

@drdragases.bsky.social

16 July

I am once again begging Hollywood to stop using the Greek alphabet for an Ancient World movie, if they can't afford to even throw a couple of quid at anyone with an inkling of the language. Unless they really think audiences are dying to see THS THDPSSSSPS

11 July

So, I’m walking down to the canal today with my youngest so he can ride his bike along the tow path, and what do I see but two clumps of reeds which have floated into the canal basin from somewhere farther along the canal. And I think to myself: “This is how papyrus arrived in Egypt!” 1/3

11 July

That’s right - the plant from which papyrus scrolls were made, the plant which let Egypt develop its elaborate script, and for which the Egyptians had a hundred other uses, first arrived as islands of papyrus sedge drifting down from farther up the Nile. Some even came from Lake Victoria itself. 2/3

simonandschuster.co.ukPapyrus eBook by John Gaudet | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster UKPapyrus by John Gaudet - From ancient Pharaohs to 21st Century water wars, papyrus is a unique plant that is now the fastest growing plant species on earth. ...

11 July

To learn a bit more, take a look at John Gaudet’s “Papyrus” (www.simonandschuster..., or there's an excerpt at Slate: www.salon.com/2014/0...), or read chapter 1 of my own book, “The Book” (shadycharacters.co.u...). 3/3

28 June

Take a trip to the south of France at the height of summer courtesy of the Shady Characters archive: shadycharacters.co.u....

Keith Houston reposted

Tom Gauld

@tomgauld.bsky.social

27 June

Replying to @shadycharacters.co.uk

😁

27 June

I KNEW it was a good title shadycharacters.co.uk/books/empire...

Tom Gauld@tomgauld.bsky.social

My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com

change.orgSign the PetitionThe World needs a Traffic Cone Emoji to celebrate Boston & Glasgow Twinning

Apropos of the Tartan Army's friendly invasion of Boston for the World Cup ⚽🏆, consider this: do we need a traffic cone emoji? Andrew Dobbie seems to think so, and has started a petition to right this wrong: www.change.org/p/the.... 1/4

View full thread

Even so, I think Andrew is onto something. Traffic cones are common across the world, and Unicode doesn't contain anything that has quite the same meaning: ⛔🚫️🚧 all capture part of the traffic cone's "careful now!" import, but not entirely. Maybe ⚠️ is the closest existing emoji? 3/4

charlottebuff.comRejected Emoji ProposalsProposed emoji that didn’t make the cut.

Either way, there haven't been any traffic cone proposals in the past (charlottebuff.com/un...), and I do wonder how far this one might go. I'll be rooting for it! 4/4

change.orgSign the PetitionThe World needs a Traffic Cone Emoji to celebrate Boston & Glasgow Twinning

Of course, the bar for creating a new emoji is deliberately set high. Unicode's page on the subject (unicode.org/emoji/pr...) runs to 4,000 words and excludes petitions as evidence of demand. Certainly, a 2019 petition on the same subject (www.change.org/p/app...) failed to do much of anything. 2/4

12 June

When I was writing “Face with Tears of Joy”, I got very little response to my questions from Google, Apple, Meta and so on. Recently, though, I managed to speak to a real, live Apple emoji designer - Ollie Wagner, who helped design Apple′s very first set of emoji. shadycharacters.co.u... 1/2

olliewagner.comOllie WagnerAmerican designer and engineer. At Apple he designed Safari, Contacts, Media Player, and Settings for the original iPad, and drew 323 of the original Apple emoji. At Facebook he shipped both design and code. Since 2013 he has run YAP, an independent studio working at the intersection of AI and design.

12 June

Many thanks to Ollie for getting in touch and for answering my questions! You can find him at https://olliewagner.com and https://yapstudios.com. 2/2

1 June

“The paragraph indent killed the pilcrow”

The Atlantic@theatlantic.com

Russell Shaw noticed that he texted the same phrase to his kids 133 times. In hindsight, he sees profound meaning in it, and a lesson for other parents. theatln.tc/oSPD3CJx 🎨: Derek Abella

31 May

Inventing a new punctuation mark turns out to be very hard. Mostly, they fade away, never to be seen again - but the “quasiquote” does not deserve that fate. Read more about this ingenious but precarious mark at the Shady Characters archive: shadycharacters.co.u... (Image courtesy of Ned Brooks.)

15 May

Miscellany № 111, now up! Catch up with goings-on in the world of punctuation, starring ‘<’, ‘>’, ‘‽’, ‘.’, ‘,’ and ‘¶’, at shadycharacters.co.u.... .

fortworthreport.orgIndependent bookstores in Fort Worth begin writing new chapter as customers return Retail trend shows growth as bookstores emphasize service, human interaction and a genre focus.

27 Apr

The calculator renaissance starts in Fort Worth, Texas! “Independent bookstores have been on the rise since the pandemic ... A surprising number of people come in looking for books on the history of the calculator, such as author Keith Houston’s ‘Empire of the Sum.′” (fortworthreport.org/...)

26 Apr

Miscellany № 110, now up! It's been a while since I've had a chance to do one of these, but this should be the first of many. Read more at shadycharacters.co.u...!