As some Britons were bemoaning and others welcoming Britain's exit from the European Union in late January, novelist Philip Pullman called on all literate Britons to boycott a 50-pence coin issued to commemorate Brexit. The reason: the slogan on the coin lacked that tadpole-like squiggle known as the comma.

In Pullman's view, the slogan, "Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations", should have had an additional comma after the word "prosperity".