Use the SarcMark and your irresistibly playful sense of irony will finally be appreciated
Friday, January 15, 2010 at 12:15PM 
Just what the world needs, you say? Another punctuation mark for writers to misuse? To be fair, though, this one, more of an emoticon than true punctuation mark, has its work cut out for it. The patented, single curled line with a dot inside, is yours to download for $1.99. (I haven't downloaded it, so I can't show you: Google it, if you must see what it looks like.)
Here's how it works.
"Great! What a brilliant idea."
Do I mean it, or do I really think your idea sucks? The italics don't help much. That could be genuine enthusiasm I'm expressing.
But insert the SarcMark at the end of the sentence and you clear up any doubt. When I said "brilliant" I really meant the opposite. Get it?
It's the graphic equivalent of the exclamatory "Not!" at the end of a sentence, all the rage in the 80s. Speakers used it when they meant the opposite of what they said, as in, "That dress makes you look so thin!—Not!"
For the irony-challenged, the SarcMark will provide yet another reliable short-cut to meaning in written communications.
In case your unbelievable wit and sharpness of intellect aren't enough.
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