# ?! \<--- What is that called?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 10, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-called/293923 "2005-03-10T23:42:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-called/293923/21 "2005-03-11T18:03:58Z")
This is sheer opinion, of course, but I agree with Oxymoron and assumed he was talking about their usefulness in less formal writing. I would be surprised to see the interrobang used in formal writing; in fact I generally see the exclamation point itself used only when quoting people who are shouting or very excited. I know I would be shocked out of my shoes to find it in academic writing; it would seem juvenile and inappropriate. To that extent I see where some of you are coming from. However, in regular usage I think such marks can be useful in communicating information. I often find myself reviewing documents which have been passed around, such an email or proposal, with handwritten notes added. I’m downstream, reading notes from people much more senior to me. There isn’t room to say much, so i don’t have a lot to go on. Under those circumstances, the difference between “No.” and “No!” and “did you mean this?” and “did you mean this ?!” are actually pretty meaningful and help me a great deal. Could the authors have conveyed that meaning more elegantly, without such marks? Sure. But at a cost of time/space which don’t seem necessary. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-called/293923/22 "2005-03-11T20:49:28Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > 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. It’s not that I like it so much; in fact, I ration them in the work I write and edit. It’s just that I hate overbroad pronouncements even more. I can think of entirely too many dialogue moments in which the two marks would be useful - as in Cranky’s example. And I do believe Fitzgerald is ludicrously overrated - the Salinger of his time. All adolescent style and not very much substance: perfect for 10th-grade English. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-called/293923/23 "2005-03-12T00:25:42Z")
> [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](#): > > I would be surprised to see the interrobang used in formal writing; in fact I generally see the exclamation point itself used only when quoting people who are shouting or very excited. I know I would be shocked out of my shoes to find it in academic writing; it would seem juvenile and inappropriate. To that extent I see where some of you are coming from. That’s interesting only because I’m currently dragging my brain through _Fabric of the Cosmos_ by Brian Greene. And while I don’t consider it academic writing by any means, he seems to use exclamation points rather gratuitously. At times, it’s not that noticeable, but at other times it just seems out of place and, if not juvenile then, inappropriate. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the interrobang in formal writing, ever. I’d be very surprised if I did. All that said, the world would be very boring and unattractive without the occasional “!”. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-called/293923/24 "2005-03-12T02:47:44Z")
[QUOTE=kevsnyde] That’s interesting only because I’m currently dragging my brain through _Fabric of the Cosmos_ by Brian Greene. And while I don’t consider it academic writing by any means, he seems to use exclamation points rather gratuitously. At times, it’s not that noticeable, but at other times it just seems out of place and, if not juvenile then, inappropriate. [QUOTE] Not 45 minutes after I wrote my earlier post, I got a periodical from one of the research institutes here and I’ll be damned if there weren’t like three exclamation marks in the executive summary. Apparently I don’t know what I am talking about. Brian Greene is an academic, but I think he’s writing for a lay audience (albeit a serious, well-read lay audience) in his books. I’m guessing we’d see fewer exclamation marks in the Journal of String Theory. Lay writing or not, the fact that they stood out for you suggests he should lay off them. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-called/293923/25 "2005-03-12T02:58:32Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > 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. How about professional writers that produce children’s books? I’ve written half a dozen books aimed at elementary school children. Any extra cue that I can provide them is a useful tool. As **Cranky** pointed out, there’s a difference between “No.” and “No!”, and that difference is exacerbated when writing for children. Similarly, take a look at closed captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. They need every bit of extra information they can get to indicate the mood and tone of an off-screen speaker. The transcribers who produce the captions can’t change the words in the dialog, so they have to find other ways to convey that information. They aren’t beginners, and they are professionals–and the exclamation point is a very useful tool for them. I can come up with more examples if you wish, but if you think this through I think you’ll agree that exclamation points have their uses, even for experienced professional writters. Like **OxyMoron** , I’m bothered by overuseage of exclamation points, but gross generalizations bother me more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-called/293923.md?page=1)