# Brackets

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brackets/336943>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 23, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brackets/336943 "2005-12-23T06:12:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![indierock82](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f14d63/32.png) [@indierock82](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/indierock82)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brackets/336943/1 "2005-12-23T06:12:11Z")

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What’s the correct use of brackets? Some people use them as replacements for parantheses, but that’s not right (or so it seems). Could someone please write a few sentences with brackets and clarify? Thanks 🙂

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**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brackets/336943/2 "2005-12-23T07:06:33Z")

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Um… I thought brackets _were_ parentheses.

Where I live, we tend to say ‘round brackets’ for ( and ), ‘square brackets’ for [and], ‘curly brackets’ for { and }, and ‘angle brackets’ for \< and \>. But we understand ‘braces’ for { and }, and ‘parentheses’ for ( and ). ‘Brackets’ by themselves are ( and ).

Is it different where you are?

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**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brackets/336943/3 "2005-12-23T07:37:17Z")

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[Brackets (Square, Angle)](http://www.bartleby.com/68/60/960.html)

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**Author:** ![indierock82](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f14d63/32.png) [@indierock82](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/indierock82)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brackets/336943/4 "2005-12-23T07:56:03Z")

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> [@MEBuckner](#):
>
> [Brackets (Square, Angle)](http://www.bartleby.com/68/60/960.html)

Aha. Thanks for the info guys. Was just curious. I always assumed they had a different meaning. Every now and then I read an article and see some word inside brackets and it just looks ill-placed. But thanks to that site, I now know the truth =)

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**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brackets/336943/5 "2005-12-23T08:47:06Z")

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I thought it was the difference between vB code and HTML code.

\*::::::::::::::::::::: flee :::::::::::::::::::::::::: \*

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**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brackets/336943/6 "2005-12-23T19:54:23Z")

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> [@indierock82](#):
>
> What’s the correct use of brackets? Some people use them as replacements for parantheses, but that’s not right (or so it seems). Could someone please write a few sentences with brackets and clarify? Thanks 🙂

[\*\* This Should Provide an Answer. \*\*](http://www.usask.ca/english/requirements_for_essays.html)

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**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brackets/336943/7 "2005-12-23T20:16:51Z")

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> [@MEBuckner](#):
>
> [Brackets (Square, Angle)](http://www.bartleby.com/68/60/960.html)

Interestingly that site at the end says “See BRACES, PARENTHESES, …” but the only thing listed for braces is “See SUSPENDERS” with nothing about punctuation braces.