Direly diacritical: a rant.

Look, why can't I have a double-shift key that I can program to give me my own choice of extra letters?

I mean, it'd save me, ooh, at least a minute a day if I could type ē,ó,Ɣ,æ, and ð with a couple of strokes of my keyboard instead of having to open a WORD document, select a drop-down menu, rummage through a chart of diacritical marks (you know, the things most people call accents) and then cut-and-paste them.

Oh, and while I'm here, some labels to stick on the keys would be nice, too, so I could remember where I've left the flipping cedilla.

Word To Use Today: diacritical. This word comes from the Greek diakritikos, serving to distinguish, from krinein, to separate.

Yes, I know, diakritikos should really have a line over the third i. 

Look, imagine it if it bothers you, okay?