A History of Parentheses
We use them every day to add an aside or crack a digital smile, but have you ever wondered where parentheses come from? From their origins as a 14th-century scribal…
Tag: typography
The Character with No Sound
Before it was the linchpin of your email address, the @ symbol was a character without a sound, a silent mark on the page. This is the secret history of…
From Chisel to Stylus: How the Tools of Writing Forged Our Alphabets
Have you ever wondered why an 'A' looks the way it does? The answer lies not in linguistics, but in the physical tools that shaped it. This article explores how…
The Character with a Secret History: How a Roman Scribble Became the Ampersand
The ampersand (&) is more than a simple stand-in for "and"; it's a linguistic fossil with a secret history. This ubiquitous symbol began as a quick ligature by Roman scribes…