eleutheromaniac

This is a psychological study that I think will benefit everyone. I'm not sure if it will work or not but here goes...

associate a word or a phrase with each of these parenthetical markers:

(bbbbbbbbb)
[bbbbbbbbb]
{bbbbbbbbb}
-- bbbbbbbbb --
<bbbbbbbbb>
~ bbbbbbbbb ~
~~~~~ bbbbbbbbbb ~~~~~


Basically, I'm trying to find out what effect each one has on the reader. Is one more authoritative than another? Is one more intrusive? Is one more interesting? and so on. Probably would be easier if it were within the context of a story, but we'll see.

Also, if anyone knows, is it more correct to use one over the other (obviously this one is most common). Should some only be used for certain purposes?

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eleutheromaniac

(bbbbbbbbb) traditional
[bbbbbbbbb] authoritative
{bbbbbbbbb} connection
-- bbbbbbbbb -- emphasis
<bbbbbbbbb> focus
~ bbbbbbbbb ~ fancy
~~~~~ bbbbbbbbbb ~~~~~ blurred

No answer is wrong, I just want to see what pops into readers minds when they see it.

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Savannah

My personal word associations are in parenthesis. The rest is what I think is helpful information about each.

(bbbbbbbbb) - (Correct.)

[bbbbbbbbb] - (Textbook.) Brackets are used for MLA-style essays, when you quote words from an actual literary source and edit them to make it fit your own work. IE, He "[called] me Ismael".

{bbbbbbbbb} - (Diagram.) The only place I've seen this used was in this: {sic}. I don't know what that means, and actually, it bugs me.

-- bbbbbbbbb -- - (Um...) Dashes are for changes of subject matter in a sentence, incomplete words tagged onto a sentence, or as replacements for parenthesis. The moon was beautiful-- round, pale and white or He'd heard the stories-- short, endearing tales-- in his childhood

<bbbbbbbbb> -- (Thought-speech in <i>The Animorphs</i> book series). I've never seen this used in literature except for the book series mentioned. As far as I know, they're just less-than and more-than symbols used in math.

~~~~~ bbbbbbbbbb ~~~~~ - (Thirteen-year-old girl in a chatroom.) The only places I've seen tildes used were in accented words. But even then, the tilde was on TOP of a letter, such as "ñ". I saw you mention in another thread that you're actually using this in your book? Please don't. It's really unnecessarily and looks terribly childish.

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<3,
Savannah

eleutheromaniac

{sic} means spelling correction from original text.

"~~~~~ bbbbbbbbbb ~~~~~ - (Thirteen-year-old girl in a chatroom.) The only places I've seen tildes used were in accented words. But even then, the tilde was on TOP of a letter, such as "ñ". I saw you mention in another thread that you're actually using this in your book? Please don't. It's really unnecessarily and looks terribly childish."

I think you have to understand the context in which I used it, see "Augemented Reality" in fiction forum.
I only used this for specific parenthetical paragraphs, in which I wanted to illustrate that something different was happening or there was a change in the narrator, or there was a flashback or..... It's open to interpretation, which is why I used it. If you're thinking I used it for all my parenthesis purposes, or if I used it for design purposes, I didn't. It's a different method, so I expect it's going to have its detractors. But it fits with the setting and mood of the book. Just trust me.

"<bbbbbbbbb> -- (Thought-speech in <i>The Animorphs</i> book series). I've never seen this used in literature except for the book series mentioned. As far as I know, they're just less-than and more-than symbols used in math."

I've also seen this used to imply a translation from another language in dialogue. (only in comic books though, when I was a kid).

"[bbbbbbbbb] - (Textbook.) Brackets are used for MLA-style essays, when you quote words from an actual literary source and edit them to make it fit your own work. IE, He "[called] me Ismael"."

I've seen this used when there is a parenthetical statement within a parenthesis ex: (aaaaaaaaaaa [vvvvvvvvv] aaaaaaaaa). It is used to make quotes grammatically correct, as well. But I've seen that done with both () and [].

I wonder if these are hard rules though. Anyone know for sure? The main question I have, though, is what effect each one has on the reader. Usually, (parenthesis) implies a less important side note, that may or may not be of the reader's interest. At least that is what the reader will infer, which is really what I'm interested in finding out. As writers, we have these different tools at our disposal, we might as well see if we can use them. And even if there are rules, no reason they can't be broken. Writers have even been known to invent words when they felt it was appropriate (Shakespeare being a famous example).

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