Besed: A Case for a New Symbol

&

besed a case for a new symbol

by Jason Blasso

Published by Charybdis Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 15 14 13 12

4321

First Printing

Besed: A Case for a New Symbol Set in Rockwell and Whitman, designed by Ken Lew. Besed created by Jason Blasso Book written, edited and designed by Jason Blasso www.charybdispress.com

besed a case for a new symbol

INTRODUCTION

&

We hereby introduce the new symbol besed ( ) into the world. The need for such a symbol will become self-evident through the following pages. It is our belief that there will be a lot of questions directed at the creation of this logogram. In order to stem the tide of curious phone calls and emails, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to pre-empt the deluge by offering up this small pamphlet in the spirit of the popular FAQ pages found accompanying perplexing information in brochures and websites that direct the complexity of your inquiries into the lowest common denominator of questions that never quite asks what you were going to ask and never quite answers what you needed answered. Should any further questions arise after completing your reading, we ask that you go back and reread it once again, making sure that nothing was overlooked from your first gloss. Should questions still exist after the second reading, we respectfully ask you to question whether you’re literate or not. It is our understanding that in this age of high-impact, interactive, digital, throwaway media, that even the simplest act of reading can overload our ADD addled brains.

HOW?

>_ _ > _ > >_

_>>_ _ >

>_ _> _>

>_ _> _>

>_ >_

_ >_ _ > _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _> _> > > > > > > > > >

>_ _ _ _> > >

>_ >_

_ _ _> _> > >

_ _ _ _> _> > > > >_ _ >

_ _ _> _> > > >_

HOW is besed pronounced and HOW is it drawn?

I pronounce it bees-said but it’s spelled wrong to be pronounced that way. It would need to be spelled beesed or beesaid to have it sound like that. But I like how besed looks. So, it really should be pronounced bess-said. Or best. Or… It doesn’t really matter.

WHO?

WHO invented the besed and WHO else would use it?

I, Jason Blasso, invented it. Besides myself? I’m not sure it’ll ever be used by another soul, but one never knows when someone might have a need for such a symbol as I myself had had a need for it. And lo, when they seek, so shall they find.

WHAT?

WHAT was the besed invented for and WHAT do you hope becomes of it?

Simply, I needed a logogram for the word “but” to compliment the ampersand in the Dedication of my novel, Punctum Deum. Strangely, one didn’t exist.

Seriously, I have no hope that it will become anything other than what it is: a symbol for “but”.

WHEN?

WHEN was it invented and WHEN, if ever, will it enter common usage?

The besed was born the same day as my good friend, Tony Brown: August 8th, except that it was born in the year 2015. I don’t believe there’s a high demand for the symbol, but it does make a nice companion to the ampersand from which it was derived.

WHERE?

WHERE did the name come from and WHERE would it be used?

The name came from the “B” in “Blasso” and, of course, the “B” in “but” combined with the Latin word sed which means “but”. It could be used anywhere a “but” is used but it would mostly be used in lists of exceptions, excuses or endless stalling digressions.

WHY?

WHY again was it invented and WHY did you decide to pronounce it as bees-said?

I don’t know. I was using the ampersand for “and” and noticed there were no other conjunction symbols and “ands” and “buts” seem to go together. Bees-said sounds like “B’s sed” which stands for “Blasso’s sed” or “Blasso’s but” or “But’s but”.

CONCLUSION

This concludes the FAQ section. It should have answered any or all of your questions and make an airtight case for the existence of such a symbol. Further, we are aware that beséd means “word” in Slovenian. Please do not contact us with this trivia. Lastly, we are also aware that the ampersand looks like a fat child curled up with a plate of high-calorie/low-nutritive food and/or a television remote and/or a gamepad and/or a tablet and/or a cell phone in their hand. This is, of course, endemic to most American households and may explain the current obesity and diabetes epidemic and low IQ and test scores afflicting our nation. The besed, taking its form from the ampersand, looks like the same child who’s gone from the floor to the couch or who, being unable to breakaway from their technology, takes their tv/game/phone to the toilet where they can continue uninterrupted as they make. With that said, the besed may seem to be a symbol of decadence created by someone too lazy to write out the three letters in “but”, but we would argue that it is rather a noble logogram that combines the “S” for sed with the “B” for “but” in a tidy, elegant design.

& &

&

& & & bodoni

caslon courier frutiger georgia

& & & & & &

arial

minion myriad optima palatino

& & & & &

&

helvetica lucida

perpetua rockwell tahoma times verdana warnock Note: The besed symbol is made by rotating the ampersand -45° and mirroring it on the Y-axis.