Here’s a two-part question.
First: Is the combination of the Question Mark and Exclamation point acceptable usage in modern English?
Second: If it is accepted, does it have a name?
And for extra credit: Why not come up with a mutated punctuation mark that combines the two?
The last suggestion has already been done: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrobang
AFAIK it’s not accepted in formal writing. Someone has come up with a combo version, called the interrobang.
I know it isn’t what you are talking about, but in chess notation it stands for “Dubious Move”. Others are:
!? = Interesting Move
? = Bad Move
?? = Blunder
! = Excellent Move
!! = Brilliant Move
Damn you guys move fast.
I thought it might have a name, but I’ve never seen the actual symbol for it. Probably because it’s ugly and looks like a mistake. I think it needs to be redesigned.
I would have named it the IncreduSlam. It seems like you would use it most often for incredulous situations, and Slam is the REAL slang for an exclamation point.
thanks peoples.
It’s considered very poor usage from a writing style point of view. Exclamation points are the beginner’s way of trying to make things seem important, but it’s the equivalent of guffawing at your own jokes.
And, from a grammar point of view, adding an exclamation point does not make something an exclamation.
Using both is even worse. The only time you use an exclamation point in fiction is when you’re quoting someone, and the more you use, the more childish your characters seem. Adding an exclamation point to a question means that you don’t know how to bring out the feeling behind the question; again, that’s like laughing loudly after you tell a joke so everyone knows it’s funny.
There is no need for an interrobang, since any author who needs to use one is not skilled enough to be allowed to.
nitpick.
Programmers call the “!” bang.
It’s for speaking code
i.e
“!=” would be “bang equal”
It might be a local thing, but I’m in the graphic design biz, and I’ve heard it referred to as a Slam quite often. I’ve heard Bang as well, but Slam just seems right. To each his/her own.
FTR, the only time I’ve ever used an Interrobang has been mainly in slang mode. Y’know?!
Don’t we have a 'doper by name of Interrobang?!
We do.
Originally posted by RealityChuck:
It’s considered very poor usage(by whom?)** from a writing style (for what purpose?) point of view** (which exists…where?). Exclamation points are the beginner’s way of trying to make things seem important (they can be, true), but it’s the equivalent of guffawing at your own jokes (authority? Other than a not-very-good one-liner from the vastly overrated F. Scott Fitzgerald?) And, from a grammar point of view(again, you’re positing a critter that doesn’t really exist)** adding an exclamation point does not make something an exclamation** (except that in everyday usage, it does - that’s precisely why exclamation points can be irritating).**
Using both is even worse** (again, authority?). The only time you use an exclamation point in fiction is when you’re quoting someone (“only?”), and the more you use, the more childish your characters seem (occasionally). Adding an exclamation point to a question means that you don’t know how to bring out the feeling behind the question ** (I repeat: authority?); again, that’s like laughing loudly after you tell a joke so everyone knows it’s funny ** (it’s getting tedious: authority?)**.
There is no need for an interrobang, since any author who needs to use one is not skilled enough to be allowed to.**
Ergh.
Look, I agree that the exclamation point and the interrobang should be used sparingly - but they are quite useful, too, and it strikes me as the most desicatted of plodding, Strunk-and-White pedantry to issue such pronouncements.
While I agree with you as far as formal writing goes, the interrobang can be useful in informal written communication. I use “?!” often to express surprise and befuddlement in IMing and email.
Still, I’d never use it when writing a formal letter, or when authoring a story.
I agree. ?! is quite useful on Internet fora to indicate “What? I can’t believe you meant that!” Admittedly fictional writing is different.
Really?!
I’ve never heard this done. “!” is pronounced “not” because that’s what it means. I can’t see any advantage to calling it anything else and only drawbacks. I would interprete “bang equals” as some kind of slang meaning “bang on”, i.e. exactly equal, which is precisely the opposite of what you’re saying.
“bang” for the exclamation point is much older than programming. It’s a proofreading/publishing convention–when you’re reading copy aloud to someone. F’rinstance:
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/archives/0301/techwhirl-0301-00022.html
Absolutely not. Ask any professional fiction writer. Or read any professional fiction writer.
The use of exclamation points otherwise is the sure sign of a beginner. It’s done by an author who does not know how to make things important, and who thinks that by putting one it, it makes the writing more exciting. It works in quotations, but it does not make anything more emphatic! (See? Did that make my statement any more emphatic? Of course not.)
Really. In neither case was the exclamation point needed.
Exclamation points, like other punctuation marks, exist to clarify. While I agree that they shouldn’t be overused, they definitely have a place in writing. They can take the place of descriptive adjectives in dialog, and draw attention to key points in narrative. A good writer uses all tools available in the language.
Your out-of-hand dismissal of exclamation points as a beginning writer’s crutch reminds me of an English teacher friend who forbids her students from using semicolons until they can pass a test on proper usage.
Yeah, exclamation points are mostly used in slangy contexts, but it’s always easier to dis a punctuation mark than to learn to use it properly.
I think there’s a poster around here called Interrobang!?
In typesetting the ! is called a bang, and the ? an interrogative.
F. Scott Fitzgerald is overrated?!
I once heard someone say that a writer should use no more exclamation points in a month than he has thumbs. I think this is fairly good advice. I tremble at the though of reading your writing, OxyMoron, if you like the exclamation point so much.