Please continue this thread by providing a numbered footnote to the post above it, to provide either a citation or ‘additional information that would disrupt the flow of the main thread’ (1). Be sure to include your own new, sequential footnote reference for the next poster to pick up from.
I’ve been re-reading Bill Bryson’s ‘A short History of Nearly Everything’, which is how I thought of this thread idea - some of his most amusing asides are to be found at the bottom of the page in this way.
(1) I think I remember reading someplace that Bryson’s love of footnoted japes stems from his reading articles and books by Will Cuppy, most notably The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody, in which humorous and cynically pedantic footnotes make up a good deal of the humor.
(2) I personally prefer it when authors reserve the numbered footnotes for actual references, which I frequently ignore, and use symbols such as daggers and asterisks for the sort of footnotes that Prof. Pepperwinkle cites above.
3 The dagger usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. A third footnote employs the double dagger. The notation for additional footnotes is inconsistent has variously been represented by a variety of symbols, e.g., Parrallels ‖, Sections §, or Pilcrows ¶. This inconsistency is considered the primary reason why superscript numerals are preferred in modern literature.
In Jasper Fforde’s highly inventive Thursday Next series of novels, Thursday is a secret agent dealing with literary investigations. Whilst being inserted into a classic novel (e.g. Jane Eyre) she receives communications from the outside world. In footnotes.
5 Jape mysteriously appeared in the English language, without having a clear derivation, during the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer et al, meaning both “to trick” and “to jeer.” The word also had sexual connotations and this ambiguity which caused it to fall out of usage.
VI. There is some question about whether footnote formatting should follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Modern Language Association Style Manual, Council of Science Editors Manual or other resource.
8. Who, as an ‘authoritative resource on current and emerging issues in the communication of scientific information, are holding their 2024 Council of Science Editors May 4-7 in Portland (9).
And not to forget Sir Terry Pratchett’s use of footnotes as humorous devices throughout the length, width, depth and breadth of the Discworld series.
12 The American Psychological Association (APA) style requires two elements: in-text citations throughout the published dissertation or assignment, and a reference list at the completion of the text
13All problems that can be solved by using endnotes instead of footnotes. My very subjective preference.
† Of course footnotes and endnotes can be mixed.