# What does (!) mean? Anything? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 8, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mean-anything/591966 "2011-08-08T17:51:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mean-anything/591966/21 "2011-08-08T19:20:51Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > For example: “The conversation turned to knitting, oral sex(!) and the Golden Girls once grandma arrived.” I have been known to utter a sentence very close to this in my life. I wish I was joking. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![uuaschbaer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/76d3ee/32.png) [@uuaschbaer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uuaschbaer)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mean-anything/591966/22 "2011-08-08T19:23:38Z")
In hard-of-hearing subtitles it means sarcasm. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mean-anything/591966/23 "2011-08-08T20:52:23Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I don’t use it very often, though. The fact that she’s using it in most of her emails seems odd and overused. This is the vibe I get. Like she’s overly astonished. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mean-anything/591966/24 "2011-08-08T21:00:28Z")
It’s easy to overuse, but I think it’s a pretty useful mark to indicate midsentence surprise or direct attention to a strange outlier in a list. Curiously, it’s a type of punctuation that doesn’t really have an impact on how something is read aloud (at least as I’d approach it). It’s more like an annotation. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mean-anything/591966/25 "2011-08-08T21:23:04Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > I’ve also seen !? and ?!. I’m unclear what the convention between the two is… An interrobang, which we discussed here: > **[!? or ?!](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=527938)** > > A punctuation blend used for an exclamatory question. Questionable surprise… or surprised questioning. Which comes first, the ! or the ? (?) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mean-anything/591966/26 "2011-08-08T22:19:20Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I’m guessing here, but I think the use started becoming widespread when [Metal Gear Solid](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mR3L1iJlIw) became popular. Every time I see that typed, I always get the MGS “siren” sound in my head soon after. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mean-anything/591966/27 "2011-08-09T02:30:50Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > An interrobang, which we discussed here: > > [!? or ?! - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=527938) So, !? is “interesting,” and ?! is “dubious…” But, neither is explicitly bad? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mean-anything/591966/28 "2011-08-09T13:57:10Z")
(?) is used in the same way right? in this case to wonder if it was really introduced there: I absolutely abhored the ‘sudden and very violent death’ scenes introduced(?) in the Final Destination movies. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mean-anything/591966/29 "2011-08-09T16:08:42Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > (?) is used in the same way right? in this case to wonder if it was really introduced there: > > I absolutely abhored the ‘sudden and very violent death’ scenes introduced(?) in the Final Destination movies. I’ve actually seen (!) and (?) used in print, so they’re not original to the Internet. The former indicates that the word or phrase used is unexpected or a surprise. According to _The McMillan Writer_, (?) indicates an unconfirmed fact. For example, I might say “The cake I had at Joe’s Diner was excellent. When I asked for the recipe, I was told they use flour, eggs, milk, Dr Pepper (!), and chocolate chips.” The (!) shows that I was surprised that the recipe included Dr Pepper because that’s not a common ingredient in cake, so I wouldn’t have expected its inclusion in the recipe. You were sort of right in your example of (?), but I would have said this: “I absolutely abhorred the ‘sudden and very violent death’ scenes introduced in the Final Destination (?) movies.” This shows that you’re not sure if they were introduced in the _Final Destination_ movies, or in some other movie. That these scenes were introduced somewhere isn’t really in contention. I might have said “I absolutely abhorred the ‘sudden and very violent death’ scenes, **which I believe** were introduced in the _Final Destination_ movies,” just for the sake of clarity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mean-anything/591966.md?page=1)