Why do Characters like these exist in Unicode: Ñ̷̡͔̔̌̒͂̍́̈́͠ỏ̷̺͒̍̎̑̌͋̊́͗̚͠͝i̵̡̨̼͍͉͙̱͇̻̳̤̮̓̒͌͆̈̅̀̆̕ç̵̧̢̨̻̲̭̼̦̆̽̎͐́̍͂ë̶̪̖̬͇̥̭̹̟̯̝͛̊̓̑͊͘͝ͅ. What purpose do they serve.

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These look so chopped up. I don’t get where this would be useful.

In: Technology

11 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

They’re diacritics. Many languages have small bits and bobs that can be overlaid with other characters to modify them. On the simpler side, the double-dot (diaeresis) in “naïve” means that the I should be pronounced as separate from the preceding letter. Unicode, the purpose of which is to provide a way of representing all languages, handles those by having the marks as separate characters which are rendered on top of preceding ones.

The Zalgo text in your example happens when someone decides to randomly pile every kind of diacritical mark available on top of the text which makes it seem like illegible gibberish. It doesn’t mean anything when used like that.

Anonymous 0 Comments

So that is 90 characters but most of them are combining characters such as accents and similar modifiers to allow UNICODE to support the wide variety of written language, people combine them in odd ways to make text look strange.

You can see what some of them are here:

[https://unicodelookup.com/#%C3%91%CC%B7%CC%94%CC%8C%CC%92%CD%82%CC%8D%CD%81%CD%A0%CD%84%CD%94%CC%A1o%CC%B7%CD%A0%CC%9A%CC%89%CD%92%CD%9D%CC%8D%CC%8E%CC%91%CC%8C%CD%8B%CC%8A%CD%81%CD%97%CC%BAi%CC%B5%CD%83%CC%92%CD%8C%CD%86%CC%88%CC%85%CC%95%CD%80%CC%86%CC%BC%CD%8D%CD%89%CD%99%CC%A1%CC%B1%CD%87%CC%A8%CC%BB%CC%B3%CC%A4%CC%AE%C3%A7%CC%B5%CC%86%CC%BD%CC%8E%CD%90%CD%81%CC%8D%CD%82%CC%BB%CC%B2%CC%A7%CC%AD%CC%BC%CC%A6%CC%A2%CC%A8%C3%AB%CC%B6%CD%9B%CD%98%CD%9D%CC%8A%CC%93%CC%91%CD%8A%CC%AA%CC%96%CC%AC%CD%87%CC%A5%CC%AD%CD%85%CC%B9%CC%9F%CC%AF%CC%9D/1](https://unicodelookup.com/#%C3%91%CC%B7%CC%94%CC%8C%CC%92%CD%82%CC%8D%CD%81%CD%A0%CD%84%CD%94%CC%A1o%CC%B7%CD%A0%CC%9A%CC%89%CD%92%CD%9D%CC%8D%CC%8E%CC%91%CC%8C%CD%8B%CC%8A%CD%81%CD%97%CC%BAi%CC%B5%CD%83%CC%92%CD%8C%CD%86%CC%88%CC%85%CC%95%CD%80%CC%86%CC%BC%CD%8D%CD%89%CD%99%CC%A1%CC%B1%CD%87%CC%A8%CC%BB%CC%B3%CC%A4%CC%AE%C3%A7%CC%B5%CC%86%CC%BD%CC%8E%CD%90%CD%81%CC%8D%CD%82%CC%BB%CC%B2%CC%A7%CC%AD%CC%BC%CC%A6%CC%A2%CC%A8%C3%AB%CC%B6%CD%9B%CD%98%CD%9D%CC%8A%CC%93%CC%91%CD%8A%CC%AA%CC%96%CC%AC%CD%87%CC%A5%CC%AD%CD%85%CC%B9%CC%9F%CC%AF%CC%9D/1)

More on combining characters:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combining_character](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combining_character)

Anonymous 0 Comments

They’re combining marks. Unicode is designed to handle all human language plus a lot extra – which is a *lot* of potential symbols, so they built it to be modular. So a lot of characters are designed to combine.

Like, you know how there are six skin tones available for emojis depicting people? Unicode doesn’t actually have an character for black waving hand 👋🏿”, you use “Waving hand 👋” followed by “Black skin tone 🏿”.

Some languages need the ability combine characters together – like in Thai, vowels get stuck on top of consonants – and add pronunciation marks, and then what if you’re writing lyrics and you need to add musical notation, etc.

So they let you stack combining characters on each other however you want. What Zalgo text is doing is using a bunch of characters that attach to the top of the letter so they stack up, then going back down with characters that attach below the letter, then back up again so they overlap several times.

Anonymous 0 Comments

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Anonymous 0 Comments

That specific example is Zalgo text. Zalgo is an internet creepypasta based on an incorporeal, malevolent entity that drives people insane.

Anonymous 0 Comments

A͚s͙͖h̹̰̙̖ ̘͎͖̯͖͓ͅn̖̪̟a͍̜͉̕z̡͓g̣͎̩̘ ̨̩͎͚͕̼͕ḍ̶͍͉u̧̳̪̮̤͕̦ŕ̮̼̖̦̙͓̝b̳̮̞̩̫̦͘ͅa̸̬t͖u̩͕̙̦͎̻̱ḽ̜̭͇̪û̹̠̪́k̺̺͚̲͎͎͚, ̩͍̩̤̼͔̥͡a̵̲̼̞͉s̸̩̣̥̻ẖ ̀n̬ͅḁ̬̻͠z̻͠g̪ ̴̜g͏ì͎͙͈̯͎̭̝m̀b̶̺͍̦a̫͈̼̜͓͠tụ̺l̵̤̠̳̜,̹
̵̥̯̦̭̖̝a͕̼̫̘͍͖s͎͇̘̠̩̦͖͠h́ ͖̳n҉a̬̲̠͉̘̕zg̟̲͖̱ ̵̫̬͉̫t̸͔̲̭͙h̬̗̙͢r̳͈͓̩ạ͔̱̞͉͘k̝̮̮̤͡a̦̞͓ţ͈̗͖͚͓̝̰u̩͖ḷ̞̼û̴k̺̺͖͙͍̘͇ ̻̹̫̣͕̮̘͘ag̙̼̲̥͙͟ͅh͙̦̬̫̱͝ ͕͞b͈u̢̯̞̞͔r̗z̛̜͖͇̲̱̠̦u̻̭͍̜̹̣ṃ̪̯̹͙̥͔-̗̹̤͖͉͞i͓̼̺͍s̲̱̩h̰̦̘i͕͔̬͈ ̧̺̥͇̠̪k͇̼̣̭̻̭r̠͎̲̻͠i̼͜m̨̮̼̤̭̼̫ͅp̤̙a͈̤̖͘t͉͍̟̝u̖̟l͘.