- Interrobang
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For the use of !? and ?! in chess notation, see Punctuation (chess). For the Italian television series, see Interbang.
The interrobang, interabang[1] (
/ɪnˈtɛrəbæŋ/), ‽ (often represented by ?! or !?), is a nonstandard punctuation mark used in various written languages and intended to combine the functions of the question mark (also called the “interrogative point”) and the exclamation mark or exclamation point (known in printers’ jargon as the “bang”). The glyph is a superimposition of these two marks. The Unicode code point is U+203D.Contents
Application
A sentence ending with an interrobang asks a question in an excited manner, expresses excitement or disbelief in the form of a question, or asks a rhetorical question.
For example:
- You did what‽
- You're pregnant‽
In informal English, the same inflection is usually notated by ending a sentence with first a question mark and then an exclamation mark.
As a logo
The State Library of New South Wales, New South Wales, Australia, uses an interrobang as its logo.
History
Many writers, especially in informal writing, have used multiple punctuation marks to end a sentence expressing surprise and question.
What the...?! Neves, Called Dead in Fall, Denies It (headline from San Francisco Examiner, May 9, 1936)
The question mark frequently comes first, although there is no universal style rule on the subject.
Writers using informal language may use several question marks and exclamation marks for even more emphasis:
He did what?!?!?!
Like multiple exclamation marks and multiple question marks, such strings are poor style in formal writing.[2]
Writers had combined question marks and exclamation marks (along with using multiple punctuation marks) for decades before the "invention" of the interrobang. They were prevalent in informal media such as print advertisements and comic books.[citation needed]
They also occur in algebraic chess notation, with "?!" identifying an interesting move that may not be the best, and "!?" labeling an unexpected move that turns out to be good. In algebraic chess notation, a "?" identifies a dubious move, while a "!" means a very good move. As in other writing, "?" and "!" may be multiplied. So long as only question or exclamation marks are used, this is acceptable notation.
Invention
American Martin K. Speckter conceptualized the interrobang in 1962. As the head of an advertising agency, Speckter believed that advertisements would look better if copywriters conveyed surprised rhetorical questions using a single mark. He proposed the concept of a single punctuation mark in an article in the magazine TYPEtalks. Speckter solicited possible names for the new character from readers. Contenders included rhet, exclarotive, and exclamaquest, but he settled on interrobang. He chose the name to reference the punctuation marks that inspired it: interrogatio is Latin for "a rhetorical question" or "cross-examination";[3] bang is printers' slang for the exclamation mark. Graphic treatments for the new mark were also submitted in response to the article.[4]
In 1966, Richard Isbell of American Type Founders issued the Americana typeface and included the interrobang as one of the characters. In 1968, an interrobang key was available on some Remington typewriters. During the 1970s, it was possible to buy replacement interrobang keycaps and typefaces for some Smith-Corona typewriters.[5] The interrobang was in vogue for much of the 1960s, with the word interrobang appearing in some dictionaries and the mark itself being featured in magazine and newspaper articles.[4]
The interrobang failed to amount to much more than a fad, however. It has not become a standard punctuation mark. Although most fonts do not include the interrobang, it has not disappeared: Microsoft provides several versions of the interrobang character as part of the Wingdings 2 character set (on the right bracket and tilde keys) available with Microsoft Office.[6] It was accepted into Unicode[7] and is present in several fonts, including Lucida Sans Unicode, Arial Unicode MS, and Calibri, the default font in the Office 2007 suite.[8]
Entering and display
The interrobang is not a standard punctuation mark. Few modern typefaces or fonts include a glyph for the interrobang character. It is at Unicode code point U+203D ‽ interrobang (8253decimal).
The interrobang can be used in some word processors with the alt code ALT+8253 when working in a font that supports the interrobang, or using an operating system that performs font substitution.
Depending on the browser and which fonts the user has installed, some of these may or may not be displayed or may be substituted with a different font.
Image Default font Fixed Palatino Linotype Calibri Arial Unicode MS Code2000 Helvetica Unicode* 
‽ ‽ ‽ ‽ ‽ ‽ ‽ ‽ *The Unicode column uses one of a selection of wide coverage Unicode fonts depending on what is installed on your system On a Linux system supporting the Compose Key, an interrobang can be produced by pressing the compose key followed by the question mark and the exclamation mark in either order.
The interrobang can be displayed in LaTeX by using the package textcomp and the command \textinterrobang. The inverted interrobang is also provided for in the textcomp package through the command \textinterrobangdown.
Inverted interrobang
A reverse and upside down interrobang (combining ¿ and ¡, Unicode character: ⸘), suitable for starting phrases in Spanish, Galician and Asturian is called by some a gnaborretni (interrobang written backwards).[9] Unicode encodes this character at the code point U+2E18 ⸘ inverted interrobang (11800decimal).[10] In current practice, interrobang-like emphatic ambiguity in Hispanic languages is usually achieved by including both sets of punctuation marks one inside the other (¿¡Verdad!? or ¡¿Verdad?! [Really!?]).[11] Older usage, still official but not widespread, recommended mixing the punctuation marks: ¡Verdad? or ¿Verdad![12]
See also
- Irony mark (؟)
- Inverted question and exclamation marks (¿¡)
- The State Library of New South Wales, which uses an interrobang as its logo
References
- ^ "interabang". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. http://www.bartleby.com/61/9/I0180900.html. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
- ^ Punctuation. Chicago Style Q&A. Chicago Manual of Style Online. (15th ed.) Accessed August 28, 2007.
- ^ Burton, Gideon O. interrogatio. Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric. Brigham Young University. Accessed August 28, 2007.
- ^ a b Haley, Allan. "The Interrobang is Back". fonthaus.com. June 2001. Archived from the original on May 7, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080507055249/http://www.fonthaus.com/xheight/interrobang.cfm. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
- ^ Smith-Corona flyer illustrating the Changeable Type system with an exclamation mark / interrobang unit Accessed March 7, 2009.
- ^ The INTERROBANG: A twentieth century punctuation mark. Accessed August 28, 2007.
- ^ "Unicode Code Charts, General Punctuation, 2000–206F" (PDF). http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2000.pdf. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
- ^ MSDN fontblog. Accessed August 28, 2007.
- ^ "Unicode Code Charts, Supplemental Punctuation, 2E00–2E7F" (PDF). http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2E00.pdf. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
- ^ Everson, Michael. Proposal to add INVERTED INTERROBANG to the UCS, 2005-04-01
- ^ RAE's Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas (Spanish)
- ^ De Buen, Jorge: Manual de diseño editorial (3a. ed.), Trea: Gijón, 2008.
External links
Categories:- Typographical symbols
- Punctuation
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