Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Today's topic is the asterisk -- Barry Bonds's least favorite punctuation mark. Neil Wilson grammar In referring to gun models the asterisk is called a star, e.g. No.4 mark 1 * would be read as number 4, mark one star at least that used to be that way in the military http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=16900#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=16900#Comments Sat, 09 May 2009 00:22:37 GMT Jesse grammar Are asterisks treated the same as footnote superscript numbers? Do they also come at the end of all the grammar in the sentence except a dash? Thanks :) http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=16148#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=16148#Comments Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:59:19 GMT Erica in Texas grammar I always use a caret to indicate the correction of previous text, but that comes from way back in my early days of IRC. The IRC programs I used always ordered the text from top to bottom (scrolling the oldest post upwards off of the top of the screen) so that the caret was pointing upwards at the item that needed correcting. I have never thought of the asterisk as having been vilified, taking it literally to mean there is more information to be had regarding this item/topic. As for where the asterisk should fall, I have always thought it would fall immediately after the thing it 'modifies.' If it relates to the type or brand of jackhammers, then it would come after the word jackhammer, if it relates to the pricing, then it would fall after the price and so on. Is this correct? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=15721#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=15721#Comments Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:32:06 GMT susan grammar I was just googling around trying to find the way to properly use an aste-risk and found your blog. Love. Love. Love. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=15322#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=15322#Comments Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:23:27 GMT Brandon grammar I also use the asterisk to correct my grammar in instant messaging conversations.... there are a lot of people that do that these days. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=15241#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=15241#Comments Mon, 29 Dec 2008 03:50:43 GMT shannon grammar In the general use, (NOT in baseball), where do you put the asterisk? For example: Your cost would be $69.00* *Subject to all applicable taxes Does the asterisk go before the $69.00 or after? *$69.00 or $69.00* ? Thanks http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=14221#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=14221#Comments Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:33:40 GMT Nancy Hubbard grammar Regarding asterisks and ending punctuation, does your comment about coming after punctuation mean that the asterisk should come after the ending period in a sentence? Just want to confirm because that's not how it appears in the transcript where it comes before the comma in the jack hammers example. Thanks for the clarification. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=13060#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=13060#Comments Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:34:19 GMT Grammar Girl grammar I just looked up this extra bit of information: According to the U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual, the asterisk goes after all punctuation marks except a dash. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=4682#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=4682#Comments Fri, 21 Sep 2007 03:28:14 GMT CheekierMeSly grammar I'm with Andrew - I regularly use the asterisk to "sanitize" potty-mouthed language. I'm not above the occasional expletive use on my blag">http://www.xkcd.com/148/">blag, but some young urchins read it and I don't wish to upset their parents. Much. Someone I read regularly (Scott Adams? Erin O'Brien? I'm stumped at the moment to recall, and Google is failing me) recently said that the asterisk was the dirtiest character in the English language. Love your stuff, Grammar Girl! And props for the spell check for these here comments. ----- http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=81#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=81#Comments Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:16:17 GMT Dennis grammar Congrats on winning the Education award from the Podcast People's Choice Awards! w00t! ----- http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=83#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx?commentid=83#Comments Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:54:31 GMT Sat, 09 May 2009 00:22:37 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/asterisk.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us