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I thought Solomon's article was very punctual.

Immediately as I started to read, this silly infographic popped into my mind (go here to see more grammar infographics):

Let's think about each of these suggested punctuation marks in ways that Solomon would.

The "I'm Not Angry" Mark is interesting because it is long and low. You definitely notice it on the page, but your eyes don't need to linger on it for so long that it becomes overemphasized, which exactly illustrates its point: I don't have much time, so you need to pay attention. Pay attention just long enough to hear me out, then go about your business. The way it stays below the middle of the letters also indicates that there doesn't necessarily need to be a full on stop, we can shortly pause, but then continue with the next text which will be more emphasized.

The Sinceriod, while I think it comes close to being more sarcastic than not, functions just like the period but emphasizes the end mark in a way that almost suggests that you needn't say more or think deeper about what's been said. What came before was truthful, honest, and sincere. If the mark was any bigger, we might start thinking into it more, because the punctuation itself emphasizes the language in a different way up to that point. If we look at it graphically, the size of the period vs. the size of say, an exclamation point, is much smaller (obviously) and therefore lessens the emphasis on the end stop because it doesn't try to equal the size of the letters.

The symbol for Sarcastics is interesting in multiple ways: for instance, by being placed at the beginning of a sentence, we are primed to speak it in a different way, and we know for how long because of the end mark, just as quotation marks would do. We understand it as a different voice because it has been designated in an area that comes off as a different register. Also, the squiggly lines interest me, because they characterize to me the dissonance that someone feels when someone says something and means another thing.

The Hemi-Demi-Semi Colon, I think, is perfect because since it's bigger, it emphasizes not only the point between ideas, but also their connection. Since it's larger than a regular colon, we notice it more, and we question it more, therefore we can question the logical connection between the two parts. It might even make that connection stronger, since it's bigger, but it might detract from the two statements, because it becomes such a large caesura that we separate the two sides of the sentence even more.

The Andorpersand - practical. I feel like we see many symbols in scientific and mathematical writing that do just this; they combine ideas for brevity as well as indicate their context within a particular field. I think this sign gets into the area of what kind of signs are appropriate, not only for the sentence structure, but for the genre and field that you are writing in.

Mockwotation Marks: they function just like quotation marks, but emphasize a sense of an even different voice because of their size. We notice them more, therefore we notice a change more, and can read and understand the logic in the sentences.

The Superellipsis speaks directly to Solomon. While a regular ellipsis seems to indicate a skip in time or missing pieces, it does this through taking up more space, by stretching horizontally across the page. The superellipsis emphasizes this even more because of the gradual increase in size. However, I wonder what the effect would be if the larger dot ended the sentence, then casually grew smaller - it would seem emphasize the end stop more and be more of a dramatic pause rather than an idea of simply trailing off.

And finally, the Morgan Freemark. Need I say a thing?

I think the most important things to take away from Solomon and from this silly examination of the way our punctuation does and does not express things that we want to say or cannot say is that size matters, placement matters, and really, that punctuation reminds us that there is a whole different level to language: that of the physical, auditory, visual realm. We read without noticing how much punctuation actually does influence the way we read things. In many cases, it causes confusion and forces us to rethink the syntax and grammar of the sentence. Effectively controlling punctuation is just like effectively incorporating images or sound, and adds a multimodal dimension that has always existed, but that we just forgot about.