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I wondered about that too, i think they use a compose key and accidentally pressed it

Does your keyboard have an abacus attached to it on the right hand side? Perhaps your keyboard is actually a slate tablet 8)

What kind of mad keyboard compose effort would conjure up a thorn? I used it very deliberately.

Thorn used to be a letter of the English alphabet and I fancied using it to imply "ye olde ..." (y replaced thorn in that sort of thing)