====== Asterisk Method ======

The so-called "asterisk method" is used by some alternate historians, notably [[offtopic:Jared]], as a way of speaking (or rather typing) during timeline discussion to convey that an alternate equivalent of a given country, movement, people, etc., either has the same name as its [[OTL]] counterpart but is significantly different, or that it is (almost) identically named but //not// the same as its OTL counterpart.

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For example, the United States of America in [[offtopic:Jared]]'s **//[[timelines:Decades of Darkness]]//** TL is a slave-holding imperialist state which is both politically and ethnically different from the OTL USA, but is still known by the exact same as the OTL country; referring to the United States in //Decades of Darkness// as the *USA and its inhabitants as *Americans helps to avoid confusion. Another example is, in a discussion pertaining to a country occupying the same area as the United Kingdom but //not// being a constitutional monarchy can be referred to as the *UK rather than the "Great English Empire," for instance. Another common use is for alternate monarchs: for example, "WI Elizabeth I had been born a boy?" Given the name Edward, he would become Edward VI of England, and to avoid confusion, the writer might say *Edward VI. Other examples include:
  * *America rather than "Atlantis" for broad regions
  * *Nazis rather than "[[southern victory|Freedom Party]]" for political parties
  * *Hitler instead of "[[southern victory|Jake Featherston]]", *Gorbachev instead of "Heinz Buckliger," or *Washington instead of "Victor Radcliff" for historical characters
  * *Spanish instead of "Hispanians," *Alaskans instead of "Alyeskans," *Arabs instead of "Himyars," or *Americans instead of "Vespuccians" for ethnic groups or nationalities
  * *tanks instead of "[[alternate terminology|barrels]]," *planes instead of "[[alternate terminology|skycraft]]", or *radar instead of "[[alternate terminology|Y-range]]" for alternate technology, etc.

As made clear in the examples above, the asterisk method is used simply by adding an * at the beginning of a word. Other writers also use the asterisk method for **[[footnoting]]**.

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==== See Also ====

**[[Footnoting]]**

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==== Navigation ====

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