# Special Characters **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2010, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449 "2010-09-29T06:10:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hollywoooooo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d78d45/32.png) [@Hollywoooooo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hollywoooooo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/1 "2010-09-29T06:10:49Z")
Here is a question I asked Cecil and he couldn’t answer (Yes I thought that never happened.):smack: A little help please. I have been lurking in this mail list for some time. I have tried asking questions but was sorely disappointed. I have another question that can only be answered by y’alls geniousness What is the name of the string of characters used in text to represent porn words. I think it has a specific number and kind of characters and a name.? As you might imagine I don’t want to send a lame representation of the string because I might be wrong or lead you down the wrong path. Please enlighten me and the rest of us word freaks. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/2 "2010-09-29T06:27:47Z")
You mean symbol swearing? Like “#@¬Ṩ)!!!”? If you do, in comic books, those are called “grawlixes”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/3 "2010-09-29T09:17:09Z")
And no, there isn’t some particular sequence of characters which has a particular meaning or is more correct than any other sequence. Some particular author or editor may prefer one sequence over another, but that’s personal preference or habit, not a global standard. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/4 "2010-09-29T09:39:57Z")
The term was coined by Mort Walker (creator of “Beetle Bailey” and “Hi and Lois”) in 1964. I would have thought it was older than that. ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/5 "2010-09-29T10:08:01Z")
[Grammar Girl has you covered.](http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/swearing-text-comics.aspx) I would call them variably encoded euphemisms, but obscured maledicta also works (imho). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/6 "2010-09-29T10:51:56Z")
Some names for individual non-alphanumeric typographical characters: # – the octothorpe / – the virgule \ – the virgule sinister & – the ampersand - – the asterisk ^ – the caret (Note: the inverted form, not a standard ASCII/ANSI character, is the hacek, written with a hacek over the C) â – a circumflex accent over an A ä – a diaeresis over an A à – an accent grave over an A á – an accent acute over an A ~ – a tilde ç – a C with cedilla « – left guillemet ¯ – a macron ¶ – a pilcrow An inverted triangle, point down, is a nabla, symbolizing backward difference. Something fascinating I ran into: In the Greek script, where pi is the symbol for the P sound, the 3.14159… number is symbolized by a lowercase omega in which the right loop is extended up and back to make an overscore above the letter. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/7 "2010-09-29T12:30:45Z")
> [@Hollywoooooo](#): > > Here is a question I asked Cecil and he couldn’t answer (Yes I thought that never happened.) To be fair … he _couldn’t_ answer it or _didn’t_ answer it? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/8 "2010-09-29T17:47:33Z")
They don’t represent porn words specifically, but just any “forbidden” word that the writer prefers not to use explicitly, or because the real words are prohibited by the publisher or whoever. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/9 "2010-09-29T18:12:40Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > They don’t represent porn words specifically, but just any “forbidden” word that the writer prefers not to use explicitly, or because the real words are prohibited by the publisher or whoever. Right, like [#@^& !&\*$#](http://tinyurl.com/y9tolgn). ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/10 "2010-09-29T18:32:11Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > / – the virgule > \ – the virgule sinister Huh. In French, a _virgule_ is the comma (with a _point-virgule_ being the semi-colon). Which form came first, do you know? The inverted caret is also known as the caron. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/11 "2010-09-29T18:37:44Z")
Sometimes $#!+ is meant to spell s-h-i-t ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/12 "2010-09-29T18:44:34Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > You mean symbol swearing? Like “#@¬Ṩ)!!!”? > > If you do, in comic books, those are called “grawlixes”. This is such a good word to know that I’ve assimilated it into my title and fused it with my other obsession du jour. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![\_mostly\_Harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/9d8465/32.png) [@\_mostly\_Harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_mostly_Harmless)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/13 "2010-09-30T01:07:03Z")
> [@dzero](#): > > [Grammar Girl has you covered.](http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/swearing-text-comics.aspx) > > I would call them variably encoded euphemisms, but obscured maledicta also works (imho). Truly your prowess in naming the heretofore unnamed is unmatched in this dimension or any other. Let me know if you start taking applications for disciples. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/14 "2010-09-30T01:16:10Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Something fascinating I ran into: In the Greek script, where pi is the symbol for the P sound, the 3.14159… number is symbolized by a lowercase omega in which the right loop is extended up and back to make an overscore above the letter. I can’t make this symbol appear correctly but it has a character code of 0x76 in the standard “Symbol” font for windows. It is in fact a variant form of pi and not an omega at all though it does look like it. It’s unicode number is 03D6, and it’s LaTex name is \varpi I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/15 "2010-09-30T01:23:26Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Note: the inverted form, not a standard ASCII/ANSI character, is the hacek, written with a hacek over the C This is called the [caron](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caron) by the Unicode standard and approximately nobody else, which is useful to know if you need to look up a character in one of the Unicode standards documents. [The origin of this term is obscure](http://babelstone.co.uk/Blog/2009/08/antedating-caron.html); [not even the Unicode people know where it’s from.](http://unicode.org/faq/casemap_charprop.html#15) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/16 "2010-09-30T02:18:36Z")
> [@dzero](#): > > [Grammar Girl has you covered.](http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/swearing-text-comics.aspx) > > I would call them variably encoded euphemisms, but obscured maledicta also works (imho). If you’re goin’ overboard, go all the way. Obfuscated maledicta. Please. Or in bad quasi-Latin for extra bonus points: s: _Maladictum obfuscatum_. pl: _Maledicta obfuscata_. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/17 "2010-09-30T02:50:08Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > > [@Polycarp](#): > > > > Something fascinating I ran into: In the Greek script, where pi is the symbol for the P sound, the 3.14159… number is symbolized by a lowercase omega in which the right loop is extended up and back to make an overscore above the letter. > > I can’t make this symbol appear correctly but it has a character code of 0x76 in the standard “Symbol” font for windows. It is in fact a variant form of pi and not an omega at all though it does look like it. It’s unicode number is 03D6, and it’s LaTex name is \varpi I believe. ALT-237 (φ) is a varpi. Not quite what you are looking for, but the closest this MB will let you render in text. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/18 "2010-09-30T03:15:30Z")
> [@srzss05](#): > > > [@OldGuy](#): > > > > I can’t make this symbol appear correctly but it has a character code of 0x76 in the standard “Symbol” font for windows. It is in fact a variant form of pi and not an omega at all though it does look like it. It’s unicode number is 03D6, and it’s LaTex name is \varpi I believe. > > ALT-237 (φ) is a varpi. Not quite what you are looking for, but the closest this MB will let you render in text. Nope – that looks like a psi to me. This symbol is like the standard “curvy-w” lowercase omega, but with the right semicircle extended in a smooth arc up and back above the open top of the two half-loops. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/19 "2010-09-30T03:21:04Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Nope – that looks like a psi to me. This symbol is like the standard “curvy-w” lowercase omega, but with the right semicircle extended in a smooth arc up and back above the open top of the two half-loops. Yeah, I know what you mean but you can’t depict that on this message board in text. This (ψ) is psi, and this (φ) is varpi. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449/20 "2010-09-30T03:33:26Z")
> [@srzss05](#): > > > [@Polycarp](#): > > > > Nope – that looks like a psi to me. This symbol is like the standard “curvy-w” lowercase omega, but with the right semicircle extended in a smooth arc up and back above the open top of the two half-loops. > > Yeah, I know what you mean but you can’t depict that on this message board in text. > This (ψ) is psi, and this (φ) is varpi. My mistake—the character above is a varphi, not varpi. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-characters/555449.md?page=2)