A couple of weeks ago, at a local literary event, I spoke about blogging and its love/hate relationship with writing. (Blogging as genre.) In preparation for the evening, the coordinator/emcee asked each member of the panel to comment on what type of punctuation marks we were. We could, if we chose, solicit feedback from friends, family and co-workers.

And so I did.

Below, in no particular order, are some of my favourite responses:

• “You, Christine, are a colon. Unsung but vital, with little patience for waste.”

• “If Christine were a punctuation mark, she would be a trema •• . Often confused with the harsher Germanic umlaut, the trema originates from the Byzantine Greek τρημα, meaning “perforation or orifice.” A little bit foreign, a little bit unusual, and a much classier way to add emphasis and distinction to a word than the common exclamation point. Like Christine, I associate tremas (and umlauts) with the names of fashion designers and expensive restaurants. “

• “An exclamation mark - It’s mostly owing to your fabulous shoes and bags which scream out wonderful things about your personality that are otherwise hidden by your serious, grown-up job.”

• “An exclamation mark! Full of punch, zing, and enthusiasm!”

• “There’s nothing about you that indicates pause, or final moments. You’re about living life and loving it! You are an exclamation mark!”

• “An exclamation mark! You are optimistic, glass half-full versus half-empty. You create fun and lightness.”

• “A semi-colon. Rare, seldom used, mysterious and of a higher order.”

• “A semi-colon because you’re always making connections of independent clauses that are so meant to be together.”

• “An ellipsis … creating space and never coming to a full stop.”

• “An ellipsis … because there’s always more.”

And, what type of mark did I choose?

The semi-colon as it’s is a wee bit sexy and equally controversial. If I could be used by Shakespeare and maligned by Kurt Vonnegut, like my friend the semi-colon, I would consider myself fulfilled.

What about you? What type of punctuation mark would you be and why?