Words & Stuff

Wikipedia says:

In digital typography, combining characters are characters that are intended to modify other characters. The most common combining characters in the Latin script are the combining diacritical marks

The idea is that (for example) instead of having separate characters for e, é, ë, ê, è, and so on, a character encoding (such as Unicode) can have one character for e that can be combined with each of those diacritics.

That combining of characters is especially useful when you want to apply two or more diacritics to a given character. There are plenty of ordinary real-world contexts where you might want to do that, such as writing in the Vietnamese alphabet.

There are also less serious contexts where you might want to apply multiple diacritics. One such context, is Zalgo text: “digital text that has been modified with numerous Unicode combining characters […] to appear frightening or glitchy.”

And you can generate your own Zalgo text using the Zalgo Generator.

For example, I used that generator to create the following text, starting with a line from Lovecraft:

P͈̖̝͈͖̞̤̳͇͊ͬͬ̽̆͆̎͒̚h́͢’̜̱̘̺́̊̌͐n̳̭̼͕͕͙͙̳g̲̠̦̻͓̅ͬͬͭ̌́͡l҉̺̘̳̺͍̞̩̣͇̦̠̻ͅů҉̕͏̭i͍̹͈̪̣̪͗ͣ̃̏ͫ̅͞ ̸̶͘m̨̛͑͐̑ͧ͗́̆ͣ̂gl̶w̖̪͎̼̮ͦ̅ͥ͗͋͡’̗̯͕̭̤͎̺̻̤̭̫̭̅̓̓̎ͩ̆ͧ͆̏̾͂̏ṋ̟̥̖̰̗̺̻̙͉̹̟̤̣̝ǎ̧̤͓ͣ́͘f͐́ͩ̇̅́ͬ̇͏̭̗͙̺͇̼̼̲́h̓̐̀̀͆ͤ͂ͫ͐ ̵̖̞̝͇͈̪̺̼̩̘͈͈Çͮ̑ͣ̄ͣͧ͐̓̏̉͊ͨͤ̆ͧ͏̢̝̭͉͓̙̩̩͈̳̘̰͎̳̬͕t̵̡́ḫ̡͇̬͕̞̭̗̮͚̤̦ͦͫͦͦ̏ͤ̄́́̏́͞uͫ̓ͦ̓̎̔͗̓͛̋̓̃̚҉̵̛̩̪̗̘̱͔̳͔̟̲̫̟̻l͍̖̳̥̳̭̻̳͔͈͍̯̓̓ͦ͂͛͐̈ͥͭ̇̈̈h̩̝̣̝̫̺͍̭̘̭̜̃̌̈́̓ͨ́͊̐͆̈ͣ͜͜͞u ̜͙̞̼̮̳̣̹̱̮̣̮̟ͭ̀̂̊̓ͪ̅͊̾̊͗̆̑̈ͅR̖̺͕̭͖͍̭̹̖̭ͥ͋̊ͯ̓ͭ̓ͭ͋̈’̷̢ͫ̎l̨̰̤̘̩͖͔̰̠̝͍̤̗̫̜͌͊̾͛ͬ͌̾ͫ̾ͤ͆̄̆̚̕͢y̜̱͎̘̟̬͉̦̜͇̠̋̽ͮͪ̊̀ͧͮ̃ͣ͒eh͕̬̻̺̪̥͉͔͖̤͔̰ ̶̢͖͔̼̗̩͓͍͓̗̦̖̪͖͔͞w̧͝g̷̯̲͎͚̲͖̯̗͉̓͐̑ͪͩ̃͑̾ͥ̐ͅá̫̜̟̺̼͔̗̪̟̬̫ͧ͆͗͋ͣ͂̿̌͂̉h̳̮̦̹̳͔̱̜̦͛ͤ̆̃ͪ̊̄̎͒ͧͅ’̧̊ͯ̋͑̾͜n̤̺̣̳̘̦͖͍̫̦a̝̠͍͎͍͙͇̤̮͔̣ͮ̓̍̀͑ͬ̐͊̍͑͒g͈͈̫̞̹l̘̩̜̻̳̞̰̬̻͎ ̵̛̖̳̮͈̹̤̣̳͈̼͆ͧ͂̔̈͗͒̓̌ͬ̚ͅf͍͎̽̌͞͞h̰̟̼̗̬̠͈̭͚̟͖̪͈̣̓͛̎ͦ̏ͥ̿͐̓̆́̔ͥ̐́͝tḁ̵̶̝̤̩̳̞̥͎̜̙̀͗̀̓͐͒͗̐ͥ̃͒̀ͅg̮͔̟͠n̛̎̑ͬ̽̈̀͝

That’s not an image! Each character there is an ordinary letter or apostrophe or space, with a bunch of diacritics added to it. So you can copy and paste it just like ordinary text.

…I feel like it’s worth noting that doing this kind of thing can imply that diacritics are something weird or alien, and that more than one diacritic on a letter is even more so, and thus that (for example) Vietnamese is weird or alien. I feel like Zalgo text goes far enough in adding diacritics that it reaches a point of absurdity; no real-world language stacks five diacritics above a letter and five more below it. Zalgo text often adds so many diacritics that it becomes unreadable. To me, before I found out how Zalgo text was created, it wasn’t even clear that the markings were diacritics. But even so, I think it behooves us to be wary about this kind of thing.