How did marking corrections with the astrisk originate?
from brachypelmasmithi@lemm.ee to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world on 06 Sep 15:18
https://lemm.ee/post/41592217

Just a random question that popped into my head while correcting a message I sent to a friend.

#nostupidquestions

threaded - newest

brachypelmasmithi@lemm.ee on 06 Sep 15:18 next collapse

asterisk*

macarthur_park@lemmy.world on 06 Sep 17:27 next collapse

FYI you can edit titles on Lemmy

brachypelmasmithi@lemm.ee on 06 Sep 21:44 collapse

I know, but I figured I might as well use the occasion to joke around a bit

FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 03:52 next collapse

It’s So Meta Even This Acronym…

Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 23:58 collapse

I always put the * frist.

*first

cheese_greater@lemmy.world on 06 Sep 15:24 next collapse

Probably stole it from fine print usage or something

somewhiteguy@infosec.pub on 06 Sep 15:31 next collapse

Literature has been using asterisks, daggers, double daggers, etc. to denote markups, notes, corrections, whatever for centuries.

This is going to sound condescending and it’s not intended that way, but read a book. Not a fiction, but non-fiction. Biographies that need research, science texts on detailed subjects, psychology with many interpretations, really anything outside of a storybook.

Have fun learning, and this is not a dumb question. You’re on the right track.

Nemo@slrpnk.net on 06 Sep 15:33 next collapse

I can tell you that it dates at least as far back as IRC and AIM in the 90’s

neidu2@feddit.nl on 06 Sep 17:52 collapse

I remember this too, but in the nerdier channels we used regex notation instead.

s/nerdier/coolest/

Maeve@kbin.earth on 06 Sep 18:41 collapse

I don't remember * being used on IRC, mainly because it denoted other things. I'm not saying it wasn't used, merely I remember the latter. Wasn't aware that was regex, used it in bash.

bran_buckler@lemmy.world on 06 Sep 19:30 next collapse

Noting a correction is part of a larger scope of annotating something. From Wikipedia:

There is also a two-thousand-year-old character used by Aristarchus of Samothrace called the asteriskos, ※, which he used when proofreading Homeric poetry to mark lines that were duplicated. Origen is known to have also used the asteriskos to mark missing Hebrew lines from his Hexapla. The asterisk evolved in shape over time, but its meaning as a symbol used to correct defects remained.

In the Middle Ages, the asterisk was used to emphasize a particular part of text, often linking those parts of the text to a marginal comment. However, an asterisk was not always used.

Aristarchus of Samothrace was from c. 220 – c. 143 BC, so it’s been used for notation since at least then!

akwd169@sh.itjust.works on 07 Sep 14:57 collapse

Astird*

It’s the name of a Viking princess

Valmond@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 18:01 collapse

Hey, that was my grandmas name! Well Astrid, and we’re all descendants from the vikings 🏹⚔️🛡️!

Sure, unnecessary fact of the day ^^