Dog's bollocks (typography)
The dog's bollocks or dog's ballocks is an outdated typographical construction consisting of a colon followed by a hyphen or dash (i.e. ":-" or ":—"), which was at one time used to indicate a restful pause.[1] The phrase—after the construction's phallic appearance—appeared at least as early as 1949, as cited by the Oxford English Dictionary and etymologist Eric Partridge.[2][3] The construction is primarily seen in British English, particularly in formal texts such as legal documents. Though at one time taught in schools, its use is now discouraged.[4]
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| Typographical construction | |
 Construction resembling dog's bollocks in the United States Declaration of Independence |
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Look up dog's bollocks in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
References
- Dean, Paul (April 25, 2008). "Extreme Type Terminology Part 4: Numerals and Punctuation". I Love Typography. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- Martens, Nick (January 20, 2010). "The Secret History of Typography in the Oxford English Dictionary". The Bygone Bureau. Archived from the original on 22 November 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- Partridge, Eric (1949). A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (3rd ed.). Routledge & Paul. LCCN 50014741.
- Trask, Larry. "The Colon". University of Sussex. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
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