The fascinating and unexpected stories behind the typographical symbols we use every day. What does the hashtag have to do with ancient Romans and Isaac Newton? How did a dash almost bring down the British establishment? Why is the @ symbol called a strudel in Hebrew and rollmop herring in Czech? How do you express sarcasm with a punctuation mark? This book is all about the symbols we use every day, and the incredible stories behind why they mean what they mean. Taking in ancient graffiti, Medieval shorthand, New York advertising men, great orators, rogues, rebels and pioneers, Shady Characters reveals how a series of strange signs, shapes and squiggles have (often literally) shaped our language.