53 responses to “Trademark a punctuation mark !?!”

1. 

   Chris Miller January 27th, 2010 at 07:46

   Haha I saw this on TechCrunch and was just about to email it to you Hank.

2. 

   Molly Longest January 27th, 2010 at 08:52

   I love this idea!! You don’t know how many times I’ve sent sarcastic text messages and have gotten some interesting responses. This mark would solve all my problems. I would definitely buy it but my only fear is that no one else would understand what it meant.

3. 

   Damon Ward January 27th, 2010 at 09:50

   I think this is a great idea. If they could really promote it and get it out there for a lot of the world to see, I think that it would grow very quickly. While I really wouldn’t mind paying $1.99 for the app on my iphone, the company could look into doing some “family” combination. (I.e buying sarcmark for a family of with 4 or 5 mobile devices for $5.99)

4. 

   Kelly Plantz January 27th, 2010 at 10:00

   This sarcastic punctuation mark is funny and would makes sense to have. However I feel that no one would understand what it actually means. You would have to explain the mark as often as you have to explain yourself that your being sarcastic when you text someone. If this were to catch on with texting it would be a nice feature. This would also make the process of reading a text and understanding the context of it a lot easier.

5. 

   Kyle Egbert January 27th, 2010 at 10:01

   Hahaha, awesome idea and does fill a real need in our society. He’s got the dream position without inventory. I think there needs to be some education/viral spreading of the mark in order for it to be used and be understood. I can’t wait until someone copies his idea and distributes it for free. Who knows, in 10 years the mark might be on my phone.

6. 

   George Petrov January 27th, 2010 at 10:14

   I think this is really cool. I am very sarcasm when I text and like stated earlier some people don’t understand it. I think this would help, but this isn’t popular yet. It obviously is going to take time. I am not willing to pay for this punctuation mark. I would rather just put the word sarcasm in parenthesis at the end of my sentences.

7. 

   Michael Evans January 27th, 2010 at 11:34

   I agree with Kelly; until the mark becomes well known, you’d have to explain it every time you use it.

   However, I do like the concept a lot. There are lots of times I could have probably used this and saved myself a lot of explaining.

8. 

   Frank Hettlinger January 27th, 2010 at 11:56

   I have already developed my own way of showing I’m being sarcastic when I text my friends. However it uses a lot more characters than this new method. If this starts to catch on, I may end up switching to it. Great idea though!

9. 

   Haley Jenkins January 27th, 2010 at 11:57

   I think this idea is a really good idea, but I agree with some of the comments above about if you do not know what this mark means then you will have to explain it every time. This guy has an awsome idea but will take a while for it to get to everyone. But I could see the day where this will adventually be apart of everyday life. I just hope it works out that way!

10. 

    Lauren Cassiyd January 27th, 2010 at 12:13

    I think this is a great idea; I would definitely buy it. I think it has the potential to catch on and be used by alot of people.

11. 

    Michael Tym January 27th, 2010 at 12:31

    The Sarcmark would help everybody! I cant count how many times i have texted something sarcastic and people get mad or when i get something meant to be sarcastic and it just seems like the person’s being an ass. However I think in order for it to work it must catch on with everybody or people are going to see it and have no idea what it means.

12. 

    Alexandra Graves January 27th, 2010 at 12:31

    This is a cool idea just for those people who are always sarcastic and need to express that through text. I know I’ve gotten a few “what”s back from a sarcastic remark. I even remember my sophomore year a girl made it habit to asterisk any comments she made through text that were meant to be sarcastic, too bad she did expand on her idea sooner.

13. 

    Joseph Mecca January 27th, 2010 at 12:44

    sarcmark is a fairly good idea. I always thought it would be a great idea to have a sarcasm font. Something similar to bolding or italicizing your text so that you can easily indicate what is genuine and what is sarcasm it’s difficult to properly communicate via text because we lose all of the paralinguistic and nonverbal cues that denote what is actually being said.

14. 

    Curtis Brackett January 27th, 2010 at 12:53

    I think the SarcMark is a wonderful idea. I can think of numerous times that I have sent a sarcastic remark or comment to a friend only to be asked, “what are you talking about?” I think it may take awhile for SarcMark to catch on; however, it couldn’t have come at a better time with the amount of text being sent in today’s world. I do have one concern though, the SarcMark is available via download on the i-Phone but how are the rest of us without i-Phones supposed to get the new punctuation mark on our phones?

15. 

    Jeff Olen January 27th, 2010 at 13:35

    I really do not like this idea. I mean all it is is a little punctuation mark that no one has probably ever seen before. It’s great that this guy is actually making money off of it but I definitely think that their are better ideas out there. I would hate putting that and have everybody explain to me what the heck it actually mean. I would rather just type “that was meant to be sarcastic” then pay 2 bucks just to shorten it up. This is a terrible idea and would never even consider buying it unless it actually came to facebook or some other social network and people understood what it meant. But I do give the man his props on being able to make a substantial amount of money off of this little icon. Way to go!!

16. 

    Dan Wyss January 27th, 2010 at 13:47

    This really is a great idea. Everybody knows the feeling of trying to be sarcastic via text and the joke hitting the floor because the other person didn’t understand what you were talking about. It is a very clever idea. It’s another example making you ask yourself, “Why didn’t I think of that?”.

17. 

    Craig Hasbargen January 27th, 2010 at 13:47

    This symbol fills the void in the texting vocabulary that can often spark controversy over sarcasm. I wonder how long/if it will be before it is incorporated on keyboards…

18. 

    Alan Dawson January 27th, 2010 at 14:25

    I agree with Jeff on the symbol catching on. If it doesnt catch on then it isn’t going to mean anything to the people who are seeing it. Once more people know whats going on with the symbol I could see myself investing the $1.99.

19. 

    Anthony Sikorski January 27th, 2010 at 14:25

    The SarcMark does fix that problem that we all face at some point, but I agree with the others that no one would no what it meant. I think the only way of getting it to really spread would be for him to allow other companies to use it on all phones and computer programs free of charge. I could see other companies coming up with a simliar symbol in the near future and one will eventually catch on.

20. 

    John Gorbandt January 27th, 2010 at 14:40

    I like this product. I hate it when I receive a message and I am unable to tell if its a compliment or just sarcasm. Well sarcmark may be the answer to my awkward messages.

21. 

    Beck Warwick January 27th, 2010 at 14:54

    i think the idea of creating a punctuation for sarcasm is a brilliant idea considering most sarcasm is lost in text translation. i don’t however think people will be enthusiastic enough about this to actually go out of their way to purchase such a punctuation. this entrepreneurs best bet would be to copyright his idea and sign, and sell it to to companies such and microsoft, and or any cell phone companies which could integrate his idea into future programs relatively cost free to its users.

22. 

    jacob higbee January 27th, 2010 at 15:24

    This idea is very interesting and could generate many new punctuaton marks in communication through text. Without being able to put emphasis on certain sentences when needed, readers lose meaing in translation. This is begenning to fill that gap so that readers can infer emphasis.

23. 

    Tony Coiro January 27th, 2010 at 15:57

    Holy hell, if I had that I might still be dating my last girlfriend after I (sarcastically) told her i was glad her apartment burnt down, although I think that was risky territory anyway….

24. 

    Sameul Golden January 27th, 2010 at 16:25

    While the sarcmark is a good idea, I don’t believe it will have much success. First off very few people know about it and when they do decide to include this in their text messages people will still reply with “what?”. The sarcmark will only further confuse people. Secondly, the general public won’t be willing to pay for a punctuation just so people know that they are being sarcastic. again good idea but it doesnt have what it takes to be a great success.

25. 

    Patrick Langosch January 27th, 2010 at 16:49

    I think that the sarcmark is overall a good idea, but the idea of trying to sell it on an individual basis is not. I’m a very sarcastic person and could probably use this in my life, but if this mark isn’t standardized with computers, phones, and everything else textual – then it has no universal meaning. I think that he should try selling this idea to bigger industries rather than people. If it takes off, he could collect money just by holding his patent.

26. 

    Amanda Edmondson January 27th, 2010 at 16:58

    This is a good idea and something I would have never thought of. I have tried to send witty texts many times where the receiver didn’t understand my message. This symbol would help communicate better with those you don’t have the sarcastic “gene” in them. However, I think SarcMark would have to do a lot of marketing to get the product out there so people understand it. At the beginning, many will probably be confused as to what the symbol means because it’s unlike anything else we are used to.

27. 

    Stephanie Mellady January 27th, 2010 at 17:07

    I was actually just talking to my friends the other day about how it would be cool to be able to distinguish sarcastic texts, and this would be the perfect way to do it. I think this has a lot of potential if it is heavily marketed and becomes widely known. I wouldn’t mind to pay a one-time $2 fee to get this, I would for sure get a lot of use out of it. The biggest obstacle he has is going to be marketing and making this mark widely known. Maybe he should start with facebook and incorporating it into facebook chat for free, then people will know about it and will be able to download the app.

28. 

    Shawn Gearhart January 27th, 2010 at 18:41

    I will admit this is a unique idea; however adding punctuation or even words to the English language is a challenging task. Plus, who honestly wants to spend money to be able to use punctuation that others probably won’t understand? I won’t be an early adopter of this idea.

29. 

    Amanda Salomon January 27th, 2010 at 19:14

    I think this is kind of corny, and I don’t think I would ever use it. I could see it slowly catching on, but not really.

30. 

    Brian Corley January 27th, 2010 at 19:29

    The concept is perfect. People ask what it means. Then either think its lame or pay to download it. Then they spread it to their friends. Great idea.

31. 

    Ariana Zades January 27th, 2010 at 19:35

    I think this is a really interesting idea. It could either become really popular or no one will hear about it. I’ll admit, it is pretty embarrassing when I don’t understand a text or someone doesn’t understand my sarcasm. I don’t know if adding a ’sarcmark’ will make this situation any better. At first, I know I’d get some pretty confusing texts back I’m sure. I think that if people actually use this, then it could be then next big accessory for sentences. Maybe advertise it on Facebook or Twitter first.

32. 

    Steve Maniago January 27th, 2010 at 19:45

    I think this is a stupid idea from an english language stand point. Sarcasm is supposed to be from intuition and meaning, not by a definite punctuation mark. From an entrepreneur standpoint this is a good idea because he is making money off of some little thing he just thought of in his head one day.

33. 

    Adi Muley January 27th, 2010 at 19:58

    I think the sarc mark is a pretty good idea as people nowadays text a lot and it’s hard to be sarcastic over text messaging. The only problem with this idea is that not many people are aware of it so it needs to be marketed more for people to know what the mark is. But overall it is a brilliant idea!

34. 

    Kristeen January 27th, 2010 at 19:58

    Hank, your blog is the only one of the 10 that I follow that isn’t posting about the iPad. Thanks for mixing it up!

35. 

    Justin Riley January 27th, 2010 at 20:05

    This is a great idea! I mean it solves a problem that some people get with others not knowing when they are being sarcastic or not in a text and best of all if sales start going down it wont hurt him. This is a win-win situation for him the way I look at it.

36. 

    Chelsea Egierski ENTR200 January 27th, 2010 at 20:36

    When we first talked about this in class I thought it was a dumb idea. The next day in my interpersonal communications course we were discussing how texting has altered how we communicate with eachother. One student made a point that in texting we can’t even express how we truly want and I quote “Like how is someone suppose to know if I am being sarcastic” after hearing that comment I actually informed them about this mark and a lot of people were interested and said they would even think about buying it. So maybe its not a bad idea after all.

37. 

    Patrick Ostrosky January 27th, 2010 at 20:49

    I think this guy has a decent idea…as long as he gets it off the ground, because as long as it’s meaning less to most of the population, whats to stop anyone else from creating a different sarcastic punctuation mark and marketing it like crazy, leaving this guys idea stranded. The commercial for the Sarcmark was awful, but with the popularity of viral videos, if he can make something funny and popular, he could probably make the Sarcmark huge with very little expense.

38. 

    Andrew Barr January 27th, 2010 at 20:50

    If I had the sarcmark available on my phone or lap top then I would definitely use it. I don’t think it is worth paying any money for though. It definitely is frustrating when you try to say one thing and the other person reads the text totally differently. Especially for me because I hate having text conversations or when I have to repeat anything via text message. The video was funny.

39. 

    Colleen Cahill January 27th, 2010 at 21:26

    I am ready to be the next customer. I LOVE THIS! Although I suppose this is another step to texting being the only form of communication the youth use, but I still think it’s a great idea. Even now people add in *sarcasm* to their texts to get the idea across. If marketed properly I see this catching on very quick. It’s also interesting to think of the rise of punctuation marks into our daily communications. I commonly substitute ‘@’ for at, and use ‘*’ to correct my mistakes. This idea opens up a lot of possibilities to better convey emotion and personality through plain text.

40. 

    Ravi Mody January 27th, 2010 at 22:43

    Haha this is hilarious. It makes me really believe that any idea can be profitable if you just execute on it. I probably would never pay for this but would definitely use it if I had it. I can’t see how this has very much cost to it so I’m assuming most of his sales are profit. I applaud him.

41. 

    Jaideep Singh January 27th, 2010 at 22:58

    I generally write /s at the end to denote the sarcasm in my text.

    Anyway, I think this idea will change the world /s

42. 

    Courtney M. Cronk January 27th, 2010 at 23:08

    i wish this was my idea! I would most definately use this. the misunderstood sarcasm happens to me a lot. im ready for it to be on the standard keyboard. sign me up!

43. 

    Angeline Tran January 27th, 2010 at 23:14

    I would not pay 2 dollars for a character. Even then, it’s going to take a lot of advertisement/word of mouth for ppl understand what the symbol represents. and it’s gonna be a pain to have to tell every one of you friends what it means -_-…

44. 

    David Hyman January 27th, 2010 at 23:42

    This is one of the coolest, most brilliant idea I have ever heard of! He is solving a problem almost EVERYONE had when it comes to present communication. He was so smart to this of this and present this to the public!

45. 

    Maria Del Real January 27th, 2010 at 23:48

    This would definitely eliminate some of the confusion when sending sarcastic msgs. I know I send a lot of them, and am equally confused when someone is trying to return the sarcasm. I’m not sure that this would catch on to the general population. It is a great concept, but I doubt people will begin to purchase a punctuation mark. Think about it. It is mostly Generation Y-er’s that use texting the most. Sometimes this group, especially students, don’t spend money on what they really need. What hope is there for a punctuation mark?

    I don’t necessarily dislike the idea, but I don’t think it will be as successful as hoped.

46. 

    Brett Cohen January 28th, 2010 at 00:06

    What an idea!!! That is really cool. This is the first I’ve heard about this, but if there have already been 1000 downloads in the first month, there can be some promise. The price is extremely reasonable and I can see this being something that becomes widely accepted and eventually, almost like a standard.

47. 

    Soroosh Karamyar January 28th, 2010 at 00:13

    This is a cool idea. I wish I would of thought of it:)hahaha
    I have the problem of trying to use sarcasm through texting and sometimes it just does not get across. This mark would definitely help. I bet this will become more and more popular in time.

48. 

    Keegan Klauke January 28th, 2010 at 01:43

    I agree with Kelly Plantz and think this will be very difficult to relay the new punctuation mark unless it really takes off with everyone. he will still make money on the brilliant idea but may turn unfruitful. well LOL has definately caught on…

49. 

    Justin de la Chi(cago) January 28th, 2010 at 10:32

    The simplicity of common language and slang has to start somewhere before it gains mass appeal, and furthermore, a Webster’s entry. This just may be the starting point for something as applicable as that stupid smiley at the end of sentences.

    Is there any better language to start this thing in than English, French perhaps? Nevertheless, it has a large audience starting with a simple grassroots, word-of-mouth campaign. I like it.

    J

50. 

    Matt Kompara January 28th, 2010 at 12:28

    there is a definite need for something like this when texting; pending Doug’s ability to get the word out to the masses on this product, this new mark could really take off. The price is set well, low enough to not really seem to matter to the consumer, yet high enough to roll in some serious doe if this thing takes off.

51. 

    Matt Kompara January 28th, 2010 at 12:40

    …and what guy likes to type jk or “winking smiley face”?

52. 

    Ziang Chen January 31st, 2010 at 01:53

    This is the GREATEST IDEA EVER(sarcmark) It will sell millions(sarcmark?)

53. 

    Daniel Johnson February 2nd, 2010 at 14:02

    I think this would take awhile to catch on, I would have not known about this if I would have recieved it in a text. After Reading this I know, but have never recieved such a mark. I think its a great idea but may take awhile to catch on.