Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️@LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt

Nobody needs to hear this, but…

The "star" key on a telephone is actually represented by a sextile ⚹ according to ITU recommendation E.161

Many smartphone dialers get this wrong and use an asterisk *, full-width asterisk ＊, or asterisk operator ∗

Figure 2/E.161 showing a sextile and not a different star shaped symbol
Figure 2/E.161 showing a sextile and not a different star shaped symbol
en
Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️@LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt

Replying to @⁨Dangerous_beans@aus.social⁩

@Dangerous_beans There are so many great dashes!

- hyphen minus
﹣ small hyphen minus
－ full width hyphen minus
− minus sign
soft hyphen (yeah, there's an invisible hyphen)
‐ hyphen
‑ non-breaking hyphen
‒ figure dash
– en dash
— em dash
﹘ small em dash
― horizontal bar or quotation dash
⁓ swung dash (which is not a tilde)
⸚ hyphen with diaeresis
⸺ two em dash
⸻ three em dash
⹀ double hyphen (not an equal sign)
゠ katakana double hyphen
〰 wavy dash
︱ vertical em dash

The possibilities are endless! Well, finite, but way larger than you'd think.

m.c. C-27733 [lily] :neobot: :neodog: :drgn: :asan_green:@minekpo1@catgirl.cloud

Replying to @⁨Dangerous_beans@aus.social⁩

miss @Dangerous_beans , mr @iris , miss @LilahTovMoon : don't know about all of these but ‒ (U+2012 FIGURE DASH) is actually really nice as its ment for use within a number (ex the separator in phone numbers) . in fonts with same width digits , the figure dash should also have that same width . you may observe that "0‒1‒2" may look better spaced out than "0-1-2" (hyphen minus) , "0−1−2" (minus sign) or "0–1–2" (en–dash) , this of course depends on your font

Simon Zerafa@simonzerafa@infosec.exchange

Replying to @⁨LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt⁩

@LilahTovMoon @Dangerous_beans

The pipe symbol (|) on IBM keyboards originated from early ASCII and character set standards, evolving from a logical "OR" symbol into a broken bar (¦) before returning to a solid line on modern displays and keyboards

Some or all if these are not really the pipe symbol 🫤🤷‍♂️

youtu.be/BktIY7VbrUs

youtu.be/BktIY7VbrUs
Clifton Royston@CliftonR@wandering.shop

Replying to @⁨LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt⁩

@LilahTovMoon @Dangerous_beans

I am in awe of your compilation skills.

This also led me to track down what font the Mastodon SW on this site is using which actually *displays* all of these. It must be very up to date on Unicode symbols.

WRONG: Roboto Regular, it turns out.

CORRECTION: It appears it's actually Microsoft YaHei that has all of these; Roboto is missing a number of the cool ones like the 2 em- and 3 em-dashes.

EI9FEB@EI9FEB@mastodon.radio

Replying to @⁨autistic_enby@hachyderm.io⁩

@autistic_enby @LilahTovMoon @Dangerous_beans
That's a author for a quotation, not the quote.
Yes, I use an em dish with no space for that, but if it's a preamble it will not have quote marks.

A style guide helps consistency as there is often no single correct usage. Nosy vs nosey, single or double quotes for dialogue. I think British & Irish English is more flexible than the USA. Webster is prescriptive, Oxford reflects usage.

I like to keep it simple, so I only use - – — in regular text.

Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️@LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt

Replying to @⁨xethos@mastodon.xethos.net⁩

@xethos Oh, it's still known as "star" in language. It's just the typographic symbol that's a sextile.

And the octothrope is meant to be known as "square", but they note:

In some countries an alternative term (e.g. "hash", "pound" or "number sign") may be necessary for this
purpose, particularly where the form in Figure 4 is commonly used

Square symbol with lines of equal length horizontal and vertical with overlaps at the ends
Square symbol with lines of equal length horizontal and vertical with overlaps at the ends
Alternative square symbol with the vertical lines at an 80 degree angle rather than 90 degree
Alternative square symbol with the vertical lines at an 80 degree angle rather than 90 degree
Dan Ports@dan@discuss.systems

Replying to @⁨elithebearded@fed.qaz.red⁩

@elithebearded @LilahTovMoon as it happens, I have one of those on my desk!

And, to go back to the original topic, this one has an actual star instead of a ⚹ or asterisk

A touchtone keypad, except it has 16 keys. The right column is bright red and labeled FO, F, I, and P. The asterisk and octothorpe keys are also replaced with a star and an A. A brass candlestick phone sits in the background.
A touchtone keypad, except it has 16 keys. The right column is bright red and labeled FO, F, I, and P. The asterisk and octothorpe keys are also replaced with a star and an A. A brass candlestick phone sits in the background.
Irom@irom@social.tchncs.de

Replying to @⁨LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt⁩

@LilahTovMoon How do you come to the conclusion that an asterisk is wrong? Wikipedia mentions US patent 3920926 patents.google.com/patent/US39 which says “sextile or asterisk”. There's a PBX Software called “Asterisk” named after the key. And ITU rec E.161 itu.int/rec/T-REC-E.161 explicitly calls Figure 2/E.161 a “Star” (which is another name for Asterisk according wo Wikipedia) and doesn't mention the words Asterisk or Sextile.

patents.google.com/patent/US3920926A/en
Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️@LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt

Replying to @⁨Tourma@tech.lgbt⁩

@Tourma Officially, it's called "square", but they note:

In some countries an alternative term (e.g. "hash", "pound" or "number sign") may be necessary for this purpose, particularly where the form in Figure 4 is commonly used

Square symbol with lines of equal length horizontal and vertical with overlaps at the ends
Square symbol with lines of equal length horizontal and vertical with overlaps at the ends
Alternative square symbol with the vertical lines at an 80 degree angle rather than 90 degree
Alternative square symbol with the vertical lines at an 80 degree angle rather than 90 degree
Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️@LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt

Replying to @⁨lennby@laconic.social⁩

@lennby @Tourma I'm on team square, the official name of the key.

Though the ITU does note:

"In some countries an alternative term (e.g. "hash", "pound" or "number sign") may be necessary for this purpose, particularly where the form in Figure 4 is commonly used"

Using "octothorpe" is definitely a rebellion against the International Telecommunication Union

Square symbol with lines of equal length horizontal and vertical with overlaps at the ends
Square symbol with lines of equal length horizontal and vertical with overlaps at the ends
Alternative square symbol with the vertical lines at an 80 degree angle rather than 90 degree
Alternative square symbol with the vertical lines at an 80 degree angle rather than 90 degree
Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️@LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt

Replying to @⁨patpro@social.patpro.net⁩

@patpro My phone doesn't even have the tactile indicator on the number 5! Gotta buy a new phone!

ITU recommendation for a tactile identifier on the "5" button To assist blind and visually impaired people in identifying the dialling push-buttons and otherwise to facilitate dialling under low light conditions, it is recommended that the button with the "5" be marked with a tactile identifier so that the button can be identified by the sense of touch. The preferred locations of the tactile identifier are: – In the middle of the "5" button. – As near the middle of the "5" button as possible. – On the surface of the "5" button that is pressed when it is activated. It is recommended that the tactile identifier is positioned in such a way that it will not obscure the legibility of the marking on the "5" button (see Figure 5). It includes a figure of a "5" button with a raised tactile dot
ITU recommendation for a tactile identifier on the "5" button To assist blind and visually impaired people in identifying the dialling push-buttons and otherwise to facilitate dialling under low light conditions, it is recommended that the button with the "5" be marked with a tactile identifier so that the button can be identified by the sense of touch. The preferred locations of the tactile identifier are: – In the middle of the "5" button. – As near the middle of the "5" button as possible. – On the surface of the "5" button that is pressed when it is activated. It is recommended that the tactile identifier is positioned in such a way that it will not obscure the legibility of the marking on the "5" button (see Figure 5). It includes a figure of a "5" button with a raised tactile dot
Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️@LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt

Replying to @⁨w8emv@a2mi.social⁩

@w8emv That's officially known as "square", but they note:

In some countries an alternative term (e.g. "hash", "pound" or "number sign") may be necessary for this purpose, particularly where the form in Figure 4 is commonly used

Square symbol with lines of equal length horizontal and vertical with overlaps at the ends
Square symbol with lines of equal length horizontal and vertical with overlaps at the ends
Alternative square symbol with the vertical lines at an 80 degree angle rather than 90 degree
Alternative square symbol with the vertical lines at an 80 degree angle rather than 90 degree
Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️@LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt

Replying to @⁨elithebearded@fed.qaz.red⁩

@elithebearded tech.lgbt/@LilahTovMoon/117320

Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️@LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt

@w8emv That's officially known as "square", but they note:

In some countries an alternative term (e.g. "hash", "pound" or "number sign") may be necessary for this purpose, particularly where the form in Figure 4 is commonly used

Square symbol with lines of equal length horizontal and vertical with overlaps at the ends
Square symbol with lines of equal length horizontal and vertical with overlaps at the ends
Alternative square symbol with the vertical lines at an 80 degree angle rather than 90 degree
Alternative square symbol with the vertical lines at an 80 degree angle rather than 90 degree
~n@nblr@chaos.social

Replying to @⁨LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt⁩

@LilahTovMoon Thank you for featuring one of my minor but very persistent pet-peeves.

While I have your attention, dear reader, have you ever wondered what the # sign on the key opposite the sextile is called? like… really, by the people at Bell Labs?
Octothorp! Here's why:

via: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_s

A fax of a copy of an article in "encore". The salient bit is this: We finally decided in a jocular way to call the pound sign an “Octotherp”. That was because it had eight points and “therp” sounded Greek and also seemed to go well with the “octo” portion of the word.
A fax of a copy of an article in "encore". The salient bit is this: We finally decided in a jocular way to call the pound sign an “Octotherp”. That was because it had eight points and “therp” sounded Greek and also seemed to go well with the “octo” portion of the word.
Cegorach@dat@social.g33ky.de

Replying to @⁨LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt⁩

@LilahTovMoon things like this is why I hate most fonts!

My current one shows the asterisks (and asterisk operator) as five-pointed, with a bar vertical to the top. Sextile is six-pointed (obviously) with horizontal bar.

But the full-width-asterisk? six-pointed, with vertical bar! WHY‽ Why not just make asterisk "full-width", so larger?

And don't even get me started on how asterisk and asterisk operator look near identical, but not 100%? You'll never see what's what unless both are right besides each other, but they still bothered to do different glyphes?

It's just 4 near-identical glyphs with one indicating "I should be bigger" in the name. And there's like 4+ WTFs.
the post I replied to, as seen on my phone with my current font
the post I replied to, as seen on my phone with my current font