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"No one punctuates with colons like that." Apparently the Chicago Sun-Times does on its website, as do many other sites. " :: " is a simple visual separator t

"No one punctuates with colons like that." Apparently the Chicago Sun-Times does on its website, as do many other sites. " :: " is a simple visual separator that makes it clear that what's intended is not just a colon. It also prevents any confusion that can arise when you use a single colon or an em-dash as the title/site separator and then use the same punctuation element within a title.

pak 16y ago
If anybody wants to know the punctuation symbol that "::" is, it's called Paamayim Nekudotayim, better known in programming as the scope resolution operator. PHP (because of its Israeli roots) calls it by the Hebrew name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scope_resolution_operator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scope_resolution_operator
- pbiggar 16y ago
  Apologies for the pedantry I display below, but your comment is so full of errors that I got riled up. Again, apologies, I'm sure you were just trying to add interesting information for other hackers. '::' is not a punctuation symbol, at least not in English. It is two of the same symbol (colon) in succession. Now in Hebrew, it may be considered a single symbol (though a cursory google makes me think Paamayim Nekudotayim might just be the Hebrew term for 'double-colon'). If Paamayim Nekudotayim were a single symbol in Hebrew, the term has certainly not migrated to English, at least outside the PHP community. In programming languages, it is commonly used as a scope resolution operator, and dates back to C++ at least. In PHP, they often call it Paamayim Nekudotayim. But this does not mean that you would be correct to come across the syntax in a C++ source file and call it Paamayim Nekudotayim. So to summarize: - it is not a punctuation symbol - if it were, it would not be called that in English - it very likely isnt a single symbol in Hebrew - it is the scope resolution operator is _some_ languages - in those languages, it is not called Paamayim Nekudotayim, except in PHP. (and after that rant, I fully expect to be proved wrong on some of those claims, which I will deserve).
  - pak 16y ago
    No, thank you, I was indeed being imprecise, you are correct that double colon doesn't exist as punctuation in English or Hebrew grammar so it's not a "punctuation symbol". I guess I meant "programming symbol", but it is also used in other contexts such as ratio equivalence in math, or abbreviating analogies e.g. dog:house::fish:bowl. I guess I don't know what to call it, really.

pak 16y ago

If anybody wants to know the punctuation symbol that "::" is, it's called Paamayim Nekudotayim, better known in programming as the scope resolution operator. PHP (because of its Israeli roots) calls it by the Hebrew name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scope_resolution_operator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scope_resolution_operator

pbiggar 16y ago
Apologies for the pedantry I display below, but your comment is so full of errors that I got riled up. Again, apologies, I'm sure you were just trying to add interesting information for other hackers. '::' is not a punctuation symbol, at least not in English. It is two of the same symbol (colon) in succession. Now in Hebrew, it may be considered a single symbol (though a cursory google makes me think Paamayim Nekudotayim might just be the Hebrew term for 'double-colon'). If Paamayim Nekudotayim were a single symbol in Hebrew, the term has certainly not migrated to English, at least outside the PHP community. In programming languages, it is commonly used as a scope resolution operator, and dates back to C++ at least. In PHP, they often call it Paamayim Nekudotayim. But this does not mean that you would be correct to come across the syntax in a C++ source file and call it Paamayim Nekudotayim. So to summarize: - it is not a punctuation symbol - if it were, it would not be called that in English - it very likely isnt a single symbol in Hebrew - it is the scope resolution operator is _some_ languages - in those languages, it is not called Paamayim Nekudotayim, except in PHP. (and after that rant, I fully expect to be proved wrong on some of those claims, which I will deserve).
- pak 16y ago
  No, thank you, I was indeed being imprecise, you are correct that double colon doesn't exist as punctuation in English or Hebrew grammar so it's not a "punctuation symbol". I guess I meant "programming symbol", but it is also used in other contexts such as ratio equivalence in math, or abbreviating analogies e.g. dog:house::fish:bowl. I guess I don't know what to call it, really.