At the bottom of each entry in this site’s blog, I use </30> to designated the end of the it.
In my own way, it’s a nod to the tradition of ending newspaper stories (and occasionally broadcast and magazine pieces) with - 30 -.While no one’s sure why 30 was used as an end sign, there is no shortage of ideas. —Craig Saila —Why end with 30? (Living Can Kill You)
Somebody e-mailed me this question. In the back of my mind, I thought, “An obsolete typesetting symbol?” but I didn’t know.
Similar:
Shakespeare on Eclipses
Prepping for tomorrow's first meeting of...
Academia
King Oberon Midsummer Make-up
Midsummer closes tonight, July 23. My da...
Culture
The College Fear Factor
What happens in a literature discussion ...
Academia
Journalism, Fake News, and "Clickbait Defamation"
Sometimes when my social media contacts ...
Culture
AP wins reinstatement to White House events after judge rules government can’t bar its jou...
A federal judge ordered the White House ...
Current_Events
My "Writing About Literature" Students Are Sampling Text Adventure Games
I'm having my students play Adam Cadre's...
Culture
Thanks for the reference, Julie.
In one of my corporate communications classes I learned that they used the thirty because they transmitted articles via telegraph, and they would tap XXX to signify the end, and somehow someone decided to use a thirty instead because that’s what XXX equals in Roman Numerals? Anyway, that’s a very strange excuse for it and it doesn’t explain the use of “###,” unless a pound sign is just a fancy “X.”
Anyway, it’s just another version of the 30-telegraph story to add to the “Why end with 30” debate.
Blame this explanation on _Mass Media Writing An Introduction_ by Gail Baker-Woods, et al.