06.07.08
What is an
“interrobang”? Some of you (especially my editor friends) may have readily given
an answer to that question, but not I – until I looked it up recently.
From the
Latin word interrogatio which means
“rhetorical question”, and bang from
the proofreaders’ slang for the exclamation point, “interrobang” is a word
coined by Martin K. Speckter in 1962 to introduce a new punctuation mark.
This
punctuation mark was invented to fulfill the writer’s need without the unwieldy
ensembles of the question mark and the exclamation point. (E.g.?!?!, ??!!!)
To find an
interrobang in Microsoft Word, click on format,
then font, and select Wingdings 2, then press the `~ key or the }].
Now, wasn’t
that nice to know?!
Rose Alferez said,
June 9, 2008 at 3:11 am
Hi Mee! Thanks for sharing! :-)
Miracle ♪♫ said,
June 9, 2008 at 4:11 am
You’re welcome, Bings. hehe…
BUT, one of the “editor friends” who I referred to, informed me that in copyediting, interrobangs are actually forbidden.
So, I’m not so sure anymore whether this entry is such a helpful post or not. haha ^_^