I collect little bits of unknown facts, otherwise known as useless knowledge. Especially invigorating to me are the books that help me collect those facts.
A Ton of Crap (Kleinman/Adams Media) is my newest acquisition to my growing library, and it is filled with a lot of, well, tidbits of information that you might find fascinating.
Here is the first fascinating crumb I’d like to share:
I know you have been sitting around wondering where punctuation started. Well, Paul Kleinman says,
“Use of punctuation dates back to Ancient Greece and Rome. Orators placed marks in their speeches to indicate where and when to pause. These marks were given names such as period, comma, and colon, correlating for eh kind of pauses needed. Punctuation was used infrequently, and it was not until the fifteenth century, with the introduction and rise of printing in England, that the punctuation we know today began being used.”
Nincompoopery 