# How to write an asterisk? You know, a this — \*

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-write-an-asterisk-you-know-a-this/952093>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [October 7, 2021, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-write-an-asterisk-you-know-a-this/952093 "2021-10-07T18:22:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-write-an-asterisk-you-know-a-this/952093/1 "2021-10-07T18:22:53Z")

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> [@75 years of the NBA](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/75-years-of-the-nba/952091/2):
>
> The narrator and bus driver is Michael Jordan\*. — not that MJ, but actor Michael B. Jordan. Oh and BTW, Isiah is in this commercial but for some reason MJ23 is not. Does this make up for the Dream Team slight? A little, but not really.

In a couple of recent posts like this I’ve tried using an \* for a footnote but it gets changed to a dot. How can I write an \* followed by an em dash — without it being changed into a dotted list?

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**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-write-an-asterisk-you-know-a-this/952093/2 "2021-10-07T18:23:45Z")

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Hmm, you have to click the linked post to see what happened.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-write-an-asterisk-you-know-a-this/952093/3 "2021-10-07T18:24:54Z")

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Try a backslash \ first.

\* -

I should add, the backslash is generally the escape character to Discourse auto-formatting.

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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-write-an-asterisk-you-know-a-this/952093/4 "2021-10-07T19:43:33Z")

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Lemme try:

I regret that I have only one \* for my country.

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**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-write-an-asterisk-you-know-a-this/952093/5 "2021-10-07T19:52:55Z")

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The only time I’ve seen an \* become a bullet is when it’s the leading character on the line and there’s a space after it.

\*If I don’t have a space between the asterisk and the sentence, it’s an asterisk.

- If I do have a space, it’s a bullet.

\* With a leading backslash like **WE** suggests, it works no matter what.

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**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2021, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-write-an-asterisk-you-know-a-this/952093/6 "2021-10-08T06:37:17Z")

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\* — thanks **What\_Exit**!