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educationSep 3, 202627:40pending

How we got from no spaces between words to the interrobang, with Florence Hazrat

About this episode

1217. This week, we talk to Florence Hazrat, author of "On the Mark," about how punctuation evolved over 2,000 years. We look at why ancient Greek and Roman writing had no spaces between words, how a librarian in Alexandria introduced the first marks to help readers, and why the Renaissance brought a burst of new punctuation that then mostly stopped. Then we look at why a period can make a short text message feel aggressive, whether emoji count as punctuation, and how failed inventions like the interrobang tried to join the ranks. 

Find Florence Hazrat on Instagram or her website.


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How we got from no spaces between words to the interrobang, with Florence Hazrat

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