dinkus

{{confused|Dingus (disambiguation){{!}}dingus|dingbat}}

File:Painted Veil Page 68.jpg novel Painted Veils. In this case, it is being used to accentuate the end of a particularly racy chapter, priming the reader for the change in tone.]]

In typography, a dinkus is a typographic symbol which often consists of three spaced asterisks or bullets in a horizontal row, i.e. {{nbsp}}∗{{nbsp}}∗{{nbsp}}∗{{nbsp}} or {{nbsp}}•{{nbsp}}•{{nbsp}}•{{nbsp}} . The symbol has a variety of uses, and it usually denotes an intentional omission or a logical "break" of varying degree in a written work. This latter use is similar to a subsection, and it indicates to the reader that the subsequent text should be re-contextualized. When used this way, the dinkus typically appears centrally aligned on a line of its own with vertical spacing before and after the symbol. The dinkus has been in use in various forms since {{circa|1850}}. Historically, the dinkus was often represented as an asterism, {{char|⁂}}, though this use has fallen out of favor and is now nearly obsolete.{{cite book |first1 = Radim |last1 = Peško |first2 = Louis |last2 = Lüthi |year = 2007 |title = Dot Dot Dot 13 |page = 193 |publisher = Princeton Architectural Press |editor1-first = Stuart |editor1-last = Bailey |editor2-first = Peter |editor2-last = Bilak |isbn = 978-90-77620-07-6 }}{{full|date=March 2024}}

Etymology

The word was coined by an artist on the Australian periodical, The Bulletin, in the 1920s and is derived from the word dinky.

Usage

The dinkus is used for various purposes, but many of them are related to an intentional break in the flow of the text.

=Subsection break=

A dinkus can be used to accentuate a break between subsections of a single overarching section.{{Cite web |url = http://www.thenewsmanual.net/Resources/glossary.html#D |work = The News Manual |title = Glossary }} When an author chooses to use a dinkus to divide a larger section,{{cite book |title = The Christian Writer's Manual of Style |first = Robert |last = Hudson |year = 2010 |page = 386 }}{{full|date=March 2024}}{{Cite web |url = https://www-orthotypographie-fr.translate.goog/volume-I/alliage-avertissement.html?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en#Asterisque |title = D'Alliage à Avertissement — Orthotypographie, de Jean-Pierre Lacroux (Lexique des règles typographiques françaises) |website = www-orthotypographie-fr.translate.goog }} the intent is to maintain an overall sense of continuity within the overall chapter or section while changing elements of the setting or timeline.{{cite book |title = Orthotypographie |first = Jean-Pierre |last = Lacroux }}{{full|date=March 2024}} For instance, when the writer is introducing a flashback or other jarring scene change, a dinkus can help denote the change in setting within the overall theme of the chapter; in that case, it can be preferable to the initiation of a new chapter.{{Cite web |url = https://www.selfpublishingreview.com/2021/08/five-ways-i-hate-your-dinkus/ |title = Five Ways I Hate Your Dinkus |date = August 26, 2021 |website = Self-Publishing Review }} This technique is used especially in literary fiction.{{cite book |title = The Australian Editing Handbook |first1 = Elizabeth |last1 = Flann |first2 = Beryl |last2 = Hill |first3 = Lan |last3 = Wang |year = 2014 }}{{full|date=March 2024}}

=Intentionally omitted information=

Many applications of the dinkus, including those that were common historically, have indicated intentional omission of information.{{cite book |title = A Comprehensive System of Grammatical and Rhetorical Punctuation |first = Consul Willshire |last = Butterford |year = 1858 |pages = 37, 40 |location = Cincinnati |publisher = Longley Brothers }} In these cases, the dinkus is used to inform the reader that the information has been omitted.{{cite book |title = Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks |first = Keith |last = Houston |year = 2013 }}{{full|date=March 2024}} It can also be used to mean "untitled" or that the author or title was withheld. This is evident, for example, in some editions of Album for the Young by composer Robert Schumann (№ 21, 26, and 30).{{cite book |last = Taruskin |first = Richard |year = 2005 |title = The Oxford History of Western Music |volume = 3 |page = 311 |isbn = 978-0-19-516979-9 }}

A dinkus can also be used in any context as a simple means of abbreviation of any text. The dinkus is also used specifically in this capacity within the sphere of lawmaking, particularly for city ordinances. When used in legal text, the dinkus indicates an abbreviation within amendments to code while not implying the repeal of the omitted sections.{{Cite web |url = https://www.municode.com/code/page/did-you-know-dinkus |title = Did You Know? The Dinkus |website = Municode }}

=Ornamentation=

Newspapers, magazines, and other works can use dinkuses as simple ornamentation of typography, for solely aesthetic reasons.{{cite book |title = Digital Sub-Editing and Design |first = Stephen |last = Quinn |year = 2012 }}{{full|date=March 2024}} When a dinkus is used primarily for aesthetic purposes, it often takes the form of a fleuron, e.g. ❧, or sometimes a dingbat.{{cite book |title = The Elements of Typographic Style |edition = 3rd |first = Robert |last = Bringhurst |publisher = Hartley & Marks |year = 2004 |isbn = 978-0-88179-206-5 |page = 63, 290–291 |access-date = 10 November 2020 |url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780881791327/page/63/mode/2up }} While fleurons, dingbats, and dinkuses are usually distinct, their uses can overlap.

=Poetic symbolism=

In some cases, the use of a dinkus has been employed in poetry in order to convey non-verbal meaning. This is exemplified in the poem Thresholes by Lara Mimosa Montes, in which the poet makes frequent use of a circular dinkus, ○ , as a form of "punctuation at the level of the full text, rather than the phrase or the sentence" throughout the course of the work.{{Cite news |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/29/books/review/on-poetry-punctuation.html |title = How Poets Use Punctuation as a Superpower and a Secret Weapon |first = Elisa |last = Gabbert |newspaper = The New York Times |date = December 29, 2020 }}

Variations

Many variations of dinkuses are composed partially or entirely of asterisks, although other symbols can be used to achieve the same goals. Some examples include a series of dots,{{cite book |last = Lundmark |first = Torbjorn |title = Quirky Qwerty: The Story of the Keyboard @ Your Fingertips |page = 120 |date = 2002 |publisher = University of New South Wales |isbn = 9780868404363 }}{{cite book |title = Making a Point: The Pernickety Story of English Punctuation |first = David |last = Crystal |isbn = 9781781253519 |publisher = London Profile Books |date = 2016 }} fleurons, asterisms, or small drawings.{{cite dictionary |dictionary=Macquarie Dictionary |location=Sydney |entry=Dinkus |quote=A dinkus is a small drawing used in printing to decorate a page, or to break up a block of type. It was coined by an artist on [Sydney's] The Bulletin magazine in the 1920s, and it is derived from the word dinky, meaning 'small'}} Esperanto Braille punctuation commonly uses a series of colons, {{bc|25}}{{bc|25}}{{bc|25}}, as a dinkus.

=Gallery=

{{Gallery

|title=Uses of dinkuses in literary works

|width=160 | height=170

|align=center

|File:Bohaterowie Grecji (wycinki) page 20a.jpg

|A Polish translation of a French work depicting the use of a series of dots as a dinkus. The dinkus is used to separate the translator's notes from the text.

|File:Bohaterowie Grecji (wycinki) page 15c.jpg

|A combination of a fleuron and line-shaped dinkus in the same Polish work.

|File:The castle's heir - a novel in real life - DPLA - e5f157d189829d6fb7ed3afc1b1e4c72 (page 229).jpg

|Mrs. Henry Wood's 19th-century novel exemplifying a line-shaped dinkus with a central diamond used as a chapter break.

|File:Infiniteadventures-testprint-1-photo-tbf - 15 (cropped).jpg

|Photograph of a German novel, Infinite Adventures, which uses an infinity symbol in triplicate as a dinkus.

|File:Alice in Wonderland Page 15.jpg

|Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, in a print of indeterminate age, features dinkuses in the form of asterisks used to form a field of stars.

|File:James Joyce, Ulysses, 1ed 2pr, p240.jpg

|Ulysses by James Joyce uses an asterism as a dinkus in earlier prints, while newer editions replace it with three horizontal asterisks.

}}

Other uses of the term "dinkus"

Among older Hungarian Americans and Polish Americans, dinkus is an archaic term for Easter Monday.{{cite book |title = Celebrating the Family: Ethnicity, Consumer Culture, and Family Rituals |first = Elizabeth Hafkin |last = Pleck |page = 90 |isbn = 9780674002302 |publisher = Harvard University Press |date = 2001 }}

In Australian English, particularly in the news media, the word "dinkus" refers to a small photograph of the author of a news article.{{Cite web |url = https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2010/august/1280988123/les-murray/infinite-anthology |title = Infinite Anthology |date = August 5, 2010 |website = The Monthly }}{{Cite web |url = http://theconversation.com/why-the-saturday-papers-design-breeds-disappointment-24198 |title = Why The Saturday Paper's design breeds disappointment |first = Zoe |last = Sadokierski |website = The Conversation |date = 27 March 2014 }} Outside of Australia, this is often referred to as a headshot.