Could someone explain the practice/convention of putting words in *asterisks*?

April 11, 2001 12:44 PM

Could someone explain the practice/convention of putting words in *asterisks*?
posted by ParisParamus to Etiquette/Policy at 12:44 PM (23 comments total)

It's like bolding, from years of plain text email use. When you're emailing people, and you want to put emphasis on something, you use a couple asterisks.

Example:

"Yes it is true, did you even *read* the article?"

is equal to:

"Yes it is true, did you even read the article?"

If I had a mic on this computer, I'd record myself reading those, but basically, I'm putting a strong emphasis on the words in bold or asterisks.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:03 PM on April 11, 2001

Also of note, from the days of plain text, underscoring a word or phrase _like so_ is similar to either italicising or underlining the phrase.
posted by cCranium at 1:22 PM on April 11, 2001

As is ALL CAPS.
posted by aaron at 1:52 PM on April 11, 2001

but ALL CAPS suck.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:13 PM on April 11, 2001

I thought all caps WAS FOR YELLING!!
posted by megnut at 2:14 PM on April 11, 2001

_*SHHHHH*_ Meg, you're too loud.
posted by ericost at 2:20 PM on April 11, 2001

What if I used *****ALL CAPS WITH LOTS OF ASTERISKS FOR DOUBLE SECRET EMPHASIS?*****
posted by aaron at 2:27 PM on April 11, 2001

Thanks.
posted by ParisParamus at 2:28 PM on April 11, 2001

Like just about *anything*, use 'em *sparingly*. I *find* their *overuse* to be, if *nothing* else, somewhat *patronizing*.
posted by dcehr at 2:40 PM on April 11, 2001

...or use the very nice ctrl-shift-B feature.
posted by lagado at 5:06 PM on April 11, 2001

And if anyone even considers posting "***L@@K @ THIS SITE!!!***", they'll be despatched back to eBay on the end of my boot.
posted by holgate at 7:45 PM on April 11, 2001

I'd love to use the very nice ctrl-shift-B feature. But I'm on a *MAC*.
posted by aaron at 9:14 PM on April 11, 2001

There's always The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N [see cover]

When you get down to it, almost >any< punctuation character can be used to provide that /soupcon/ of emphasis.
posted by dhartung at 11:39 PM on April 11, 2001

Yeah, I always thought that using forward slashes for /italicized text/ made the most sense, since they lean in the right direction.
posted by waxpancake at 12:07 AM on April 12, 2001

I'd love to use the very nice ctrl-shift-B feature. But I'm on a *MAC*.

Oh well, you have my sympathies there, aaron
heheheheheh
posted by lagado at 5:12 AM on April 12, 2001

Oh, baylink, where *are*you?
posted by iceberg273 at 3:39 PM on April 12, 2001

I'm in the process of choosing a PC, lagado. You just wait...!
posted by aaron at 10:35 PM on April 12, 2001

Okay then, looking forward to seeing a brighter, bolder, more p.c., aaron.


posted by lagado at 11:14 PM on April 12, 2001

A fake link! You bastard! Oh, and Save the Whales!
posted by aaron at 12:03 PM on April 13, 2001

Wait! Hold your mouse over it for a while...then again maybe it won't work on your mac browser (?).

Here's the devilishly clever HTML code behind it (although it looks like you already got the joke).

Okay then, looking forward to seeing a brighter, <b>bolder</b>, more <b title="i.e. politically correct, geddit? ;-j" style="color:#cccc00">p.c.</b>, aaron.
posted by lagado at 11:37 PM on April 13, 2001

oh right, then again maybe it did work, duh!
posted by lagado at 11:51 PM on April 13, 2001

Yeah, it worked, though it seemed to pop up a bit more slowly than it does when it's connected to an actual link.
posted by aaron at 1:40 PM on April 14, 2001

I've always considered asterisks "the whatever" of weblogs. *But that's just me.* {Insert track laugh}
posted by GirlFriday at 6:00 PM on April 16, 2001