It indicates a new syllable. Very rarely seen this days, but it used to be used a lot. So the answer to your "when" is "a very long time ago, then people changed their minds"
Based on past comments I'd expect the author to have the en_US layout (or something entirely different) and probably - now taking a guess here - even without umlauts.
I'm German and use en_US here, so for ö I'd need to compose a character manually. Which is probably what was mocked (whether that is right or wrong I do not know - I certainly cannot judge the style of writing of someone in his native language, as a foreigner myself).
perhaps, but in it i detect a New Yorker magazine-style use of the dieresis to separate vowels into syllables that a reader might be inclined to pronouce together as a single sound, e.g.: reëlect for re-elect.
untog|11 years ago
justsid|11 years ago
darklajid|11 years ago
I'm German and use en_US here, so for ö I'd need to compose a character manually. Which is probably what was mocked (whether that is right or wrong I do not know - I certainly cannot judge the style of writing of someone in his native language, as a foreigner myself).
jeremyswank|11 years ago