Stacking diacritics: "awesome but rubbish"

You may have seen some peculiar breaking-the-box typographics in novelty signatures on web forums, like this:

Ray Girvaก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็

Purely out of interest, I checked out what's going on for this particular subset of the things.

It comes down to Thai "stacking diacritics". The Thai character "ก" ("ko kai"), which happens to resemble an English " n", can have several different diacritic marks: "ิ" ("sara i"), "็" ("maitaikhu"), and "้" ("mai tho"). If you append one of these diacritics to "ko kai", you get a combination character: "ก" + "็" = "ก้".

However, someone has discovered that, via a quirk of web page display coding, you can repeat the process and append multiple copies of the diacritic marks, each superscripted to the previous superscript. Hence these:


ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ กิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิ ก้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้ ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ กิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิ ก้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้ ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ กิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิ ก้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้ ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ กิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิ ก้้้้้้้้

I haven't worked out the full implementation (mainly because it isn't of the slightest practical or aesthetic use to me), or indeed how they manage to break out of the current text line, but that's the basic explanation. As a commenter at this stackoverflow discussion said, "That is truly awesome! But also a bit rubbish."

Edit: the rendering of these things differs with browser. On Firefox on my PC, these diacritics stack in a slanted column cutting across several screen text lines; but on Safari on the Mac at the bookshop where I work, they just overlay into a little superscripted blob.

- Ray