“What the?” ….. I can hear you mutter through the ether.
To be honest, it’s not a real punctuation mark.
However when you find out what it is, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s likely to make a resurgence – especially in the current age of odd word usages, over emphasis, rampant exclamation marks and expression that has to be pointed out and force fed by punctuation overuse and abbreviations.
It was invented in the early 60’s by an advertising executive (typical) , named Martin Speckler. It was proposed as a short hand punctuation for statements where neither the exclamation nor question mark alone exactly served the writer (as in “She said what?!”).
He proposed the mark in a magazine about typography. Some early names for what eventually became known as the interrobang were “exclarotive” and “exclamaquest”. It even found its way on to some typewriters in the late 60′s and early 70′s.
Wikipedia further explains some naming oddities:
“The interrobang or interabang, is a nonstandard English-language punctuation mark 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 ligature is a superimposition of those two marks.”
Why is it no longer used?
Well there are rules and regulations and you just can’t make up a new punctuation mark for the English language. If you do, it’ll be short lived like the interrobang.
In addition, the same thing can be expressed with two signs that already exist, and it’s hard to make out in small sizes like 6 or 8pt font.
Really it’s a nifty idea, but not very logical in the world of typography.
But, because ?!?!?!?! is for hacks, perhaps it could make a comeback…..
Leave us your thoughts on the interrobang, in the comments.
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Related scribblings:
Editing clips: Interrobang
“What the?” ….. I can hear you mutter through the ether.
To be honest, it’s not a real punctuation mark.
However when you find out what it is, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s likely to make a resurgence – especially in the current age of odd word usages, over emphasis, rampant exclamation marks and expression that has to be pointed out and force fed by punctuation overuse and abbreviations.
It was invented in the early 60’s by an advertising executive (typical) , named Martin Speckler. It was proposed as a short hand punctuation for statements where neither the exclamation nor question mark alone exactly served the writer (as in “She said what?!”).
He proposed the mark in a magazine about typography. Some early names for what eventually became known as the interrobang were “exclarotive” and “exclamaquest”. It even found its way on to some typewriters in the late 60′s and early 70′s.
Wikipedia further explains some naming oddities:
Why is it no longer used?
Well there are rules and regulations and you just can’t make up a new punctuation mark for the English language. If you do, it’ll be short lived like the interrobang.
In addition, the same thing can be expressed with two signs that already exist, and it’s hard to make out in small sizes like 6 or 8pt font.
Really it’s a nifty idea, but not very logical in the world of typography.
But, because ?!?!?!?! is for hacks, perhaps it could make a comeback…..
Leave us your thoughts on the interrobang, in the comments.
If you enjoyed this post, you can use this link to subscribe to the feed to be delivered direct to your inbox FREE.
Related scribblings: