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  1. interrobang love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A punctuation mark in the form of question mark superimposed on an exclamation point, used to end a simultaneous question and exclamation.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The symbol ‽ (combination of ? and !).

Etymologies

  1. interro(gation point) + bang1, exclamation point (printers' slang). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “(All that said, the interrobang is on my short list of non-standard punctuation most likely to become standard in the next few decades, if people ever agree on what it signals.)”

    Archive 2008-05-01

  • “A single character combining a question mark and an exclamation - called an interrobang - didn't catch on because it doesn't read well in small sizes and never made it to standard keyboards, while, thanks to email addresses, the @, also known as an amphora, has become ubiquitous.”

    NPR Topics: News

  • “Enough type designers have liked the idea (or, more probably, the name "interrobang") that Unicode reserves space for this mark and its Spanish inverse.”

    Archive 2008-05-01

  • “According to the etymology in Webster's 11th Collegiate for "interrobang" first attested 1967, two years before the date Wikipedia gives for Unix it's a piece of old printer's slang.”

    UNIX Geekery Warning

  • “Actually, make that a interrobang Harrelson said well, he didn't actually say "interrobang," but it's way too cool a word to pass up, insisting that "The A-Team" was going to be one "helluva" good movie when those question marks get erased.”

    ‘A-Team’ Movie Still A Question Mark For Woody Harrelson » MTV Movies Blog

  • “The interrobang was in vogue for much of the 1960s, with the word "interrobang" appearing in some dictionaries and the mark itself being featured in magazine and newspaper articles.”

    Daring Fireball

  • “(fyi, this punctuation combo '?!' is referred to as an "interrobang"; actually, that term refers to a symbol which actually combines the two symbols, but it means the same thing) definite kudos to you! i'm sitting here munching on a gourmet chocolate bar even as we type. is it too early for that?”

    h.r. huff 'n' puff

  • “For all that can be found in the exotic parts of the dictionary (the most recently searched Wordnik words at the moment include palimpsest, irrendentist, epaulette, and interrobang), the greatest mysteries sometimes lurk in the everyday.”

    Apparently “the” was in short supply during the Depression « Motivated Grammar

  • “In this vein, you may have encountered the interrobang , which signals excited disbelief.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Is This the Future of Punctuation

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reverse dictionary (1)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. interabang

tags (4)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. punctuation
  1. bangy things
  1. vccvccvcvcc
  1. ppwp_funtosay

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tagging (1)

Words tagged ‘interrobang’

  1. ‽

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Lists

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Comments

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  • frogapplause If the interrobang could go back in time: here. Aug 23, 2010

  • jmjarmstrong JM questions the self explanatory interrobang?! Jan 31, 2010

  • reesetee Oh Pro, you must visit San Francisco. (Although, alas, I don't have a home there and cannot offer you shelter.) Apr 7, 2009

  • Prolagus The truth, my dear friend, is that I visit places where someone can give me shelter. Apr 7, 2009

  • sionnach If I weren't feeling such warm and fuzzy thoughts towards Pro right now for his wonderful contributions on my recent Poetrie list, I might just have to take umbrage. This is a man who, after all, chose to visit Southern California while giving San Francisco a miss.

    Boris and Natasha were desolées. Still inconsolable, the poor dears.

    And now Baltimore. Sniff. Apr 7, 2009

  • rolig I'm so glad you saw the beautiful Peabody Library. I used to live just a couple blocks away. Too bad about the weather, though. But South Baltimore and Fells Point can be a lot of fun. Apr 7, 2009

  • Prolagus Besides the interrobang, I could explore Baltimore for one day. Unfortunately, it was a rainy/sunny/windy/not sure/rainy again/windy again/sunny-and-hot/cold/rainy day, so it was not easy to walk all of the time. But I had a good time. Fells Point and the Inner Harbor are very nice, and the Peabody Library is a lovely place (and a good shelter during a downpour).
    Unfortunately, it was not the right season for crabcakes, so I decided not to have them rather than taste alien crabs. Apr 7, 2009

  • rolig I am so pleased, Pro, that my native town could provide you with this hybrid punctuation mark. Baltimore's an interrobangish place, filled with lots of surprises and questions that are always getting mixed up together. I hope you had a good time! Apr 7, 2009

  • Prolagus And at last, I found it somewhere. Apr 6, 2009

  • nickyeow What about Copy Paste Character? Really handy way to copy & paste special characters like the interrobang. Feb 10, 2009

  • Prolagus The real shortcut to interrobang is still a google search for interrobang, then copy and paste. Oct 16, 2008

  • chained_bear Sayyyy... a possible tattoo design?! Oct 16, 2008

  • Prolagus & # 8253 ; (with no spaces) is the html tag.
    U+203D in Unicode. Sep 11, 2008

  • loping how do you make one on a regular keyboard? this could be very useful! Sep 11, 2008

  • Prolagus Futurists would have loved this symbol. Apr 18, 2008

  • bilby Great word‽ Apr 18, 2008

  • pterodactyl Here's a picture of an interrobang. Apr 18, 2008

  • urfy I thought the interrobang was in a Palatino Linotype font, but I can't find it. I think the easiest way is the'Wingdings 2' font, & hit the '}]' key. Works for me. Nov 27, 2007

  • reesetee My thoughts exactly. Nov 8, 2007

  • uselessness Nothing like typing seven characters just for the convenience of getting two-in-one. ;-) Nov 8, 2007

  • kewpid If this were on my keyboard I'd be twice as efficient. Nov 7, 2007

  • chained_bear Let's see, ampersand, plus pound, plus... ‽

    Hey! It worked! Nov 7, 2007

  • sionnach OK, well last time I tried to edit an existing comment o' mine, I just nuked it, so the HTML code thingie is &_#_8_2_5_3_; without the underscores, natch. Nov 6, 2007

  • sionnach Also known as the quexclamation marnt, it combines two punctuation marks in a single new symbol , obtainable by using HTML code ‽ Nov 6, 2007

  • koldewyse WHAT IS THIS‽ Nov 6, 2007

  • patiomensch "American Martin K. Speckter concocted the interrobang itself in 1962. As the head of an advertising agency, Speckter believed that advertisements would look better if advertising copywriters conveyed surprised queries using a single mark. He proposed the concept of a single punctuation mark in an article in the magazine TYPEtalks. Speckter solicited possible names for the new character from readers. Contenders included rhet, exclarotive, and exclamaquest, but he settled on interrobang. He chose the name to reference the punctuation marks that inspired it. Interrogatio is Latin for "a rhetorical question" or "cross-examination"; bang is printers' slang for "exclamation point". 1 The French equivalent is "point exclarrogatif", expressing a similar idea - the fusion between "point d'interrogation" (?) and "point d'exclamation" (!)." Apr 13, 2007

  • patiomensch This is pretty much the best word I've learned in a while. Apr 13, 2007

  • abraxaszugzwang Do I‽ Feb 11, 2007

  • hanru This word, and the interrobang symbol, rock. Don't you agree‽ Dec 10, 2006

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‘interrobang’ has been looked up 8109 times, loved by 35 people, added to 122 lists, commented on 29 times, and has a Scrabble score of 14.