In reply to:

The Wise old Woman said: a star is a star is a star is a star.

Us old archeogeeks sometimes call it splat.


Interesting. To me, * has always been an asterisk (unless it's on top of a Christmas tree).

This guy seems to have the right idea:
http://www.taosnet.com/ebear/punc.html

Loved his quote: "I'm having my semicolon removed, and I'll have to punctuate into a bag."