Grammar Girl here, today's topic is the asterisk.

Why?

Because Barry Bond's just broke the record for a number of home runs in one season.

And people are talking about putting an asterisk next to his name in the record book because

of the steroid controversy surrounding his career.

It's a punctuation-related news story, and those come about so rarely I just couldn't

pass it up.

The asterisk is that little star above the eight key on your keyboard, and the word asterisk

actually comes from the Latin and Greek words for little star.

Asterisk can also be used as a verb to mean that you've marked something with the little

star.

For example, some sports writers want the baseball commissioner to asterisk Barry Bond's

record.

I had a little bit of hesitation about doing this episode because the pronunciation is so

tricky.

It's pronounced asterisk.

Asterisk.

It's common to hear people call it asterisk or asterisk, but the correct pronunciation

is asterisk.

My first rule for using an asterisk is to always make sure it refers to something at the

bottom of the page.

It makes me crazy when ads have an asterisk next to some offer, and then you can't find

...