The pondercation point is a punctuation
mark that fills a critical need in written communication. In spoken word, inflection and
tone are used to indicate inquisitive statements. In the written word, however, there is no official punctuation
mark to delineate a statement intended as a question (
e.g. "I wonder if beverages
will be provided.")
With an increasing amount of communication being conducted in written word (e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging) the need for greater clarity in punctuation drove research grammarians at the "Toughest Guys in the World" think tank in Provo, Utah, to develop a new punctuation symbol using existing punctuation available on a typical Western keyboard.
The pondercation point is represented by the combination of the ~ (tilde) and the ` (apostrophe), and is used at the end of inquisitive statements that require an answer from the recipient. Therefore instead of saying, "I wonder if you are lying to me,
asshole?" intent is
better indicated with the pondercation point: "I wonder if you are lying to me,
asshole~`"
The pondercation
point in use:
* Perhaps that happened because you tried to retread my
monkey~`
* I wonder if your
problem is that their reaction is fueled by the blood of Christ~`
* I thought you were going to kiss my black ass~`
