What?

Punctuation in the Know – Are you Familiar with the Interrobang?!

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What?

Have you ever heard of a punctuation mark called an Interrobang? I know I never had until I came across it in one of the best Grammar and Punctuation books I’ve ever read, and still reading – Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogarty.

I’ll be doing a review on this book in the next week or two, but I wanted to share what I discovered about this punctuation mark here today.

As Fogarty’s book explains, it wouldn’t look proper to add both an exclamation and question mark at the end of a sentence, but some expressions warrant it. Although it’s not advised to use this mark in formal writing, it’s approved to use in informal writing and communications when we’re wanting to emphasize in exclamation and make a statement with a rhetorical question in surprise at the same time.

Exclamation marks

The mark is basically an exclamation mark combined with a question mark.

‽

Let’s say someone tells us something shocking or incredulous, a natural reaction we may respond with may be:

What?!

What!?

You did not!?

Are you crazy?!

Are you crazy!?

You did not?!

 Really?

Those are just a few examples where you could use the interrobang, which would look much cleaner than the versions I’ve listed including unacceptable double punctuation marks. The statements are rhetorical, reacting in surprise and/or  in outburst of disbelief or shock. Have you ever written a statement informally where you wanted to express strong emphasis on a statement or reply such as:  What???????????  I know I have, especially since I’m a very expressive and animated personality.

A Little History on the Interrobang

It was invented by American, Martin K. Speckter in 1962, to make a cleaner punctuation mark. The name was inspired by the Latin – Interrogatio – meaning rhetorical question, and the “Bang” was taken from a printers’ slang for exclamation mark.

In 1968 an Interrobang key was available on some Remington typewriters, and into the 70s, some Smith-Corona typewriters incorporated it, although not a standard mark. In the 60s, it  was considered quite en vogue and consequently appeared in some dictionaries and was used in various newspaper and magazine articles.

Many fonts don’t include this mark, but you can find it in certain versions of Microsoft Word in the “Symbols” section. It’s in Wingdings 2 and Palatino font.

Ironically, I can’t demonstrate it here in a sentence because I wrote this post in my WordPress editor and the mark isn’t listed in my symbols. But when I was working on my desktop with an older version of Word I use on that computer, 2007, I did find the mark there. Alternatively, if you can’t find it in your symbols on your Word program, you only have to change to Palatino while you’re in there and you should find it.

Now, what do you think about this interesting punctuation mark? Would you consider using it? Would you like to see it become fashionable again and acceptable to use in formal writing?

Wouldn’t that be fun!?!?!?

More definitions Here

©DGKaye2017

103 thoughts on “Punctuation in the Know – Are you Familiar with the Interrobang?!”

  1. Great post, Debby. I have never seen it, and, I don’t think most readers would know its meaning, however, I could be wrong.I think it is great. I am going to look for it on my computer. Don’t know if I’ll ever use it though. The book sounds interesting, I am going to take a peek at it on Amazon. Thank you for sharing.

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    1. Glad I could intrigue you with this lovely punctuation find Patricia. I’ll be reviewing the book this Sunday. It’s really a helpful guide with great examples to demonstrate the lessons that help them sink in. 🙂 xx

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  4. I use the !? or ?! occasionally on blogs and sometimes the ??? or the !!! Ha ha. I’m glad it has a name now, Debby. I think it will be a while before we see a lot of interrobangs in books since the simple ! is so frowned on. Thanks for the laughs – a funny post!!!

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  5. OK, go to the Wikpedia link you have above, scroll down to the Entering and Display section where you will find the HTML code necessary to render an interrobang. If you want to place it in a blog post, insert the HTML in text mode. Switch back to visual and voila, you have your interrobang! I would put the code here, but it causes problems. Just go to Wikipedia to find it. LET’S ALL START USING IT AND BRINGING IT BACK. 🙂

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    1. Thanks John, I tried it and it comes out tiny. But I did a full search in my Word 2016 (which is much different than 2007) and did find it in Palatino font!? Wish I could install it work on my blog just think how much more expressive I could be, lol 🙂 !!??

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  6. Pingback: Smorgasbord Blogger Daily – Tuesday August 1st 2017 – Kosher Kitchen, Jennie Fitzkee, Sue Vincent, Darlene Foster and Debby Gies | Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life

    1. Lol Jeri, I kind of figured you might feel that way as an editor. But there are some of us writers who like to bend rules and for me, this mark fits the bill. 🙂

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  9. The English teacher in my perked up with the post, Debby. I have never heard of the interrobang, but am waiting for this key to appear on my iMac laptop. Ha!?!

    I hope you succeeding in washing/drying your lovely locks. I found a travel-size shampoo this morning at Savon!!!

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  11. Once you get the HTML code for making one, save it in a draft post on your blog under interrobang and just post it in via the text editor wherever you think it fits in a post. Here it is with spaces–just delete them and you’ll be able to use it. & # 8253 ;

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      1. You open the draft post you saved, copy the HTML code, reopen the NEW post you’re adding and paste it into the text editor where you want it. On the other hand, if you start using it once every week or two, you’ll probably memorize the ampersand, pound sign and the four digits along with the semicolon that follows any code entered in the text editor. Easy as pie. 🙂

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      2. Lol, that’s what I thought. But it’s not so easy. To add a simple mark and switch to Text editor all this code comes up not broken up in order, it looks like a coded mess and can’t find the word I want to insert it after, so I’ll take a pass but use it in a Word doc. 🙂 Thanks.

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  12. So interesting, dear Debbie… I am not sure why but we use double interogation marks in Spanish (I think it just happens in that Language! 😉 so if I used them to ask you something, I´d say: ¿How are you doing, today, DG? 😉 One at the beginning and the other of the end of the question. Great post… Sending love & best wishes! 🙂

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    1. Hi Aqui! Thanks for demonstrating how the question marks work in Spanish. I saw that upside down one while looking at symbols and wondered how it was used. So basically, a question is enveloped by questions marks, just as dialogue is with quotation marks,except the beginning mark is upside down. That’s so cool. Thanks for sharing this Aq. 🙂 Big hugs to you my friend. ❤

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  14. Oh Debby, this is so ironic, I just encountered this very thing, and I did not know what it was. I was editing the editor’s copy of my book, lol. I saw the mark, and thought surely they meant to use double exclamations there (I may have originally used one or two, not sure). Of course, I pointed it out to them via email, now they are going to be all Miss Smartypants, ha ha. Well, this is definitely good to know, there really are a lot of mechanics involved in the English language. Thanks so much for posting this!

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    1. Wow Lana, that was an interesting story! So your editor added the interrobang? So cool! Usually the editor will frown on most exclamation and question marks, stating the words themselves should convey the expression, but yours has gone the other way. Well what I think is old becomes new again and I too love this mark and if I find a place for it in my manuscript, I may just add one or two just to spice things ups and arouse curious minds, lol. 🙂 x

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  16. I am teaching English Composition 1 and I have enough with trying to teach the rules to students from all over. I don’t think I can cope with more complications! It’s an interesting idea, though. Thanks, Debby.

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  17. OK, I had to Google this to see if your tongue was in your cheek. “a non-standard punctuation mark (‽) indicating a question expressed in an exclamatory manner, as in what are you doing‽.”

    Aren’t you just amazing, Deb .

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  18. Thank you for the great information. It will be great using in a post. I’m wondering how appropriate (would it get by my editor) using in a manuscript?

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    1. Most welcome Chuck! And I have to say, I have an editor who allows me the odd exclamation mark. I’m going to try her on with a few of these marks and see what she says as I’m currently in re-writes with my newest book. I’ve always been the kind of gal who marches to her own beat of a drum, bending rules, so I’ll let you know. 🙂

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  19. You’ve never heard of this?! I use the interrobang quite often on my blog. My posts are conversational. They are not formal by any stretch of the imagination, as you know. I think of the interrobang as “slang punctuation”. 🙂

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      2. I just use the “express version” of the actual mark: ?! A question mark followed by an exclamation mark. You did what?! But you can cut and paste it from online. You can‽ Yes. Look at that. 😉 It might even be in the symbols but I’m not sure.

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  24. What a terrific name for it! I write the two together now and then … how original I thought. Or not as it seems! Many thanks for mentioning the book – worth a look and a memorable title! ?❤️

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  25. I use the interrobang in blog comments and had no idea about its name… How is that even possible?!?! 😉 I’ll boomerang love for the interrobang with you ❤

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  26. I’m sure I’ve seen it, but not sure where, Debby. It may have been many years ago when I first leant how to touch-type. Can’t do that anymore, but I’m sure it was on the typewriter I was using. I’m going back to the late ’70s, early ’80s, but I know I’ve seen it (and used it) before.
    Let’s hope it makes a comeback. I’d certainly use it.

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  27. I’ve heard of ?! but never the two combined together. From reading your post and the earlier comments and your experience with Word, it does sound like it originated a while ago and perhaps it goes lost somewhere along the way. Maybe it has appeared in historical literature before. I remember as a kid I got to play with my uncle’s typewriter, and he showed me how to type over words that you’ve already typed. I’m sure I must have come across it at some point 🙂

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    1. Thanks for sharing your take and your interesting experience with a typewriter that types over words. How Cool! Yes, I was excited to learn about this punctuation mark and do intend sliding a few through to my editor in my next book, lol. 🙂

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    2. That’s what I was initially thinking as well, that with a type writer, one could “easily” move the bar back and put the question mark above the exclamation point… Mist be how it originated.

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      1. Now, that’s an interesting thought? Maybe it originated that way? But by the 60s some typewriters, as I mentioned, already had that mark incorporated into the keys. To use it in word just add the symbol at the end of a sentence. 🙂

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      2. Yes! I remember moving the type writer back and forth, and if I typed a wrong letter, I’d keep moving the typewriter until I typed over the letter with lots of ink 😀

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  28. What a coincidence! An independent bookstore just opened in Dallas called Interrobang and it is based on the very punctuation mark you feature here. I haven’t visited the store yet but this encourages me to go this weekend. Thanks for the history on the mark. I found it interesting. I’m signing off now to see if my computer is equipped with this relevant and fun mark.

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    1. Wow Ann, I love the name for the bookstore. I hope you write about it on your blog once you go. I’d look forward to reading! You will find the mark in Word, not on your blog editor. Check in symbols, if it’s not there, switch over to Palatino font. 🙂 xx

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  29. I’ve never seen it, but it sure looks interesting. My worry would be 1) to find it somewhere in order to use it and, 2) that it would be too much hassle to insert it (like with other special characters with accents and such), so I’d be better and quicker off writing ‘!?”. I don’t think it will get back in style again, unless there is a dedicated key for it on our keyboards.

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    1. Well it looks a lot neater than !? for sure, lol. But you can find it in Word under symbols. And if you scroll through them and don’t see it, just switch to Palatino and it’s there. It’s not difficult to insert, as I often use the same process to insert and em dash when warranted, as the hyphen shouldn’t be used as an em dash. 🙂

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      1. Wow, Debby, before your post, I had never heard of an em dash (or an en dash). So I just did some research. I have been using hyphens in my manuscript, where I should be using em dashes. I seriously learned something new here. Thank you and thank you, Grammar Girl!

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      2. Well I’m glad I brought up the em dash for you. You see, there are many little tricks in the grammar books we think we know but don’t. Yes, I’d highly recommend Mignon Fogarty’s book. 🙂 x

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  30. I had never heard of it. Not sure I’ll ever use it since I’m sparse with exclamation marks and try to make the emphasis I want come through in words. Good to know. Swenson Book Development, my book development editor loves Grammer Girl, so I’ve counted on her reliable advice for a while. It’s a good thing to share.

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  31. Interobang – WTF?! 🙂

    I can’t imagine doing much *besides* informal writing, even in a book – since many in my target audience can’t stay tracked (or refuse to read) unless things are conversational in tone and a tad over the top. But I’m with you, Deb – rules were meant to be broken in the name of creativity – and I LOVE to do so – so there!!!

    As for em and en dashes, I have only one word for them — PIFFLE!
    xx,
    mgh
    (Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
    ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
    “It takes a village to educate a world!”

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  33. I use this quite a lot in casual, conversational writing, but I did not know it had a name. 🙂 Thanks for this fascinating history of the Interrobang! And, also for the book recommendation. It’s on the way. Cheers!

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    1. Fantastic Deb. So funny, I tweeted this post to follower on Twitter after she tweeted, asking people to share weird punctuation marks. Glad to see retweeting an older post got your attention. And Grammar Girl is invaluable with her tips. 🙂 x

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  35. Pingback: The Ultimate Punctuation Mark” | John Rachel
  36. Pingback: The Ultimate Punctuation Mark | John Rachel

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