View source for Interrobang

{{Short description|Combined question mark and exclamation mark}}
{{about|the typographical symbol|other uses}}
{{Redirect2|!?|?!|chess signs|Chess annotation symbols|}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}}
{{Infobox symbol|mark=‽ ⸘
|unicode={{unichar|203d|INTERROBANG}}<br/>{{unichar|2e18|INVERTED INTERROBANG}}}}
{{Contains special characters}}

The '''interrobang''' ({{IPAc-en|ɪ|n|ˈ|t|ɛr|ə|b|æ|ŋ}}),{{refn|{{MerriamWebsterDictionary|Interrobang}}}} also known as the '''interabang'''<ref name="interrobang">{{cite web | url=http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=interabang | title=interabang | work=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|edition=5th| date=November 1, 2011 | access-date=June 14, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114175941/http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=interabang | archive-date=November 14, 2012 | url-status=live | df=mdy-all }}</ref> {{char|'''‽'''}} (often rendered as '''?!''', '''!?''', '''?!?''', '''?!!''', '''!??''', or '''!?!'''), is an unconventional [[punctuation mark]] intended to combine the functions of the [[question mark]] (also known as the interrogative point)<ref name="A course of reading for common schools and the lower classes of academies">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4t4NAQAAMAAJ&q=%22interrogative+point%22&pg=PA44 | title=A Course of Reading for Common Schools and the Lower Classes of Academies | date=1851 | access-date=November 22, 2013 | last=Mandeville | first=Henry | archive-date=September 15, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915031227/https://books.google.com/books?id=4t4NAQAAMAAJ&q=%22interrogative+point%22&pg=PA44 | url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[exclamation mark]] (also known in the jargon of printers and programmers as a "bang").<ref>{{Cite web |title=bang, n.¹ meanings, etymology and more {{!}} Oxford English Dictionary |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/bang_n1?tab=meaning_and_use |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521200145/https://www.oed.com/dictionary/bang_n1?tab=meaning_and_use |archive-date=May 21, 2024 |access-date=2025-06-16 |website=www.oed.com |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref> The glyph is a [[Ligature (writing)|ligature]] of these two marks<ref>{{cite web|last=Gleckler|first=Arthur|title=The Jargon File|url=http://speechcode.com/jargon/jargon.info.Top.html|access-date=December 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426091238/http://speechcode.com/jargon/jargon.info.Top.html|archive-date=April 26, 2012|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> and was first proposed in 1962 by Martin K. Speckter.<ref name="NYT1988">{{cite news |title=Martin K. Speckter, 73, Creator of Interrobang |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/16/obituaries/martin-k-speckter-73-creator-of-interrobang.html |work=The New York Times |date=16 February 1988 |access-date=February 9, 2017 |archive-date=March 20, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320015031/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/16/obituaries/martin-k-speckter-73-creator-of-interrobang.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Application ==

A sentence ending with an interrobang states a question in an excited manner, expresses excitement, disbelief, or confusion in the form of a question, or asks a [[rhetorical question]].<ref>{{cite web
 |access-date  = August 6, 2019
 |archive-date = August 6, 2019
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20190806105531/http://thoughtco.com/interrobang-punctuation-term-1691181
 |title        = Interrobang (Punctuation)
 |url          = https://thoughtco.com/interrobang-punctuation-term-1691181
 |url-status   = live
 |website      = ThoughtCo.
}}</ref>

For example:

* You call that a hat‽
* Are you out of your mind‽
* The dingo ate your baby‽ 
* Are you a dummy‽

Writers using informal language may use several alternating question marks and exclamation marks for even more emphasis. However, this is regarded as poor style in formal writing.<ref>{{cite web
 |access-date  = <!--2007-08-28-->2025-05-08
 |archive-date = April 2, 2015
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150402154718/http://chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Punctuation.html?page=2
 |date         = 2015-04-02
 |edition      = 15
 |publisher    = Chicago Style Q&A
 |title        = Punctuation
 |url          = https://chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Punctuation.html?page=2
 |via          = Chicago Manual of Style Online
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:interrobang.svg|thumb|upright 0.3|class=skin-invert-image|An interrobang in the [[Palatino]] [[Mergenthaler Linotype Company|Linotype]] font]]
Historically, writers have used multiple consecutive punctuation marks to end a sentence expressing both surprise and question.
{{quote|What the...?! Neves, Called Dead in Fall, Denies It|headline from ''[[San Francisco Examiner]]'', May 9, 1936}}

===Invention===
American Martin K. Speckter (June 14, 1915 – February&nbsp;14, 1988)<ref>{{cite news|title=Martin K. Speckter, 73, Creator of Interrobang|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/16/obituaries/martin-k-speckter-73-creator-of-interrobang.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320015031/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/16/obituaries/martin-k-speckter-73-creator-of-interrobang.html|archive-date=March 20, 2016|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=16 February 1988|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> conceptualized the interrobang in 1962. As the head of an advertising agency, Speckter believed that advertisements would look better if [[Copywriting|copywriters]] conveyed surprised rhetorical questions using a single mark. He proposed the concept of a single punctuation mark in an article in the magazine ''TYPEtalks''.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Spekter, Martin K. |title=Making a New Point, or, How About That&nbsp;…|journal=TYPEtalks|date=March–April 1962}}</ref> Speckter solicited possible names for the new character from readers. Contenders included ''exclamaquest'', and ''exclarotive'', but he settled on ''interrobang''. He chose the name to reference the punctuation marks that inspired it: ''interrogatio'' is Latin for "rhetorical question" or "cross-examination";<ref>{{ cite web
| first = Gideon O.
| last = Burton
| title = interrogatio
| url = http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Figures/I/interrogatio.htm
| access-date = August 28, 2007
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051119182734/http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/figures/I/interrogatio.htm
| archive-date = November 19, 2005
| website = Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric
| publisher = [[Brigham Young University]]
}}</ref> ''bang'' is printers' slang for the exclamation mark. Graphic treatments for the new mark were also submitted in response to the article.<ref name=fonthaus>{{cite web
| first = Allan
| last = Haley
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080507055249/http://www.fonthaus.com/xheight/interrobang.cfm
| title = The Interrobang Is Back
| url = http://www.fonthaus.com/xheight/interrobang.cfm
| date = June 2001
| publisher = fonthaus.com
| archive-date = May 7, 2008
| access-date = December 3, 2010
}}</ref>

===Early interest===
In 1965, Richard Isbell created the [[Americana (typeface)|Americana]] typeface for [[American Type Founders]] and included the interrobang as one of the characters.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Houston |first1=Keith |title=Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, & Other Typographical Marks |date=2013 |publisher=W. W. Norton |location=New York |page=29}}</ref> In 1968, an interrobang key was available on some [[Remington Rand|Remington]] [[typewriter]]s. In the 1970s, replacement interrobang keycaps and [[typeface]]s were available for some [[Smith-Corona]] typewriters.<ref>[http://sites.google.com/site/rpforwarded/Home/interrobang1.jpg Smith-Corona flyer illustrating the Changeable Type system with an exclamation mark / interrobang unit] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326214527/http://sites.google.com/site/rpforwarded/Home/interrobang1.jpg |date=March 26, 2009 }} Accessed March 7, 2009.</ref>
The interrobang was in vogue for much of the 1960s; the word ''interrobang'' appeared in some dictionaries, and the mark was used in some magazine and newspaper articles.<ref name=fonthaus />

===Continued support===
Most fonts do not include the interrobang, but it has not disappeared. [[Lucida Grande]], the default font for many UI elements of legacy versions of [[Apple Inc.|Apple]]'s [[OS X]] operating system, includes the interrobang, and [[Microsoft]] provides several versions of the interrobang in the [[Wingdings|Wingdings 2]] character set (on the right bracket and tilde keys on US keyboard layouts), included with [[Microsoft Office]].<ref>[http://www.interrobang-mks.com/ The Interrobang: A Twentieth Century Punctuation Mark.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041013080952/http://www.interrobang-mks.com/ |date=October 13, 2004 }} Accessed August 28, 2007.</ref> It was accepted into [[Unicode]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2000.pdf |title=Unicode Code Charts, General Punctuation, 2000–206F |access-date=March 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804231917/http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2000.pdf |archive-date=August 4, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> and is included in several fonts, including [[Lucida Sans Unicode]], [[Arial Unicode MS]], and [[Calibri]], the default font in the [[Microsoft Office 2007|Office 2007]], [[Microsoft Office 2010|2010]], and [[Microsoft Office 2013|2013]] suites.<ref>[http://blogs.msdn.com/fontblog/archive/2005/12/22/506936.aspx MSDN fontblog] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100307025631/http://blogs.msdn.com/fontblog/archive/2005/12/22/506936.aspx |date=March 7, 2010 }}. Accessed August 28, 2007.</ref>

==Upside-down interrobang <span class="anchor" id="Inverted interrobang"></span> ==<!-- courtesy comment per [[WP:RSECT]]: [Inverted question and exclamation marks#Mixtures of question marks and exclamation points]] links here. -->
An upside-down interrobang (combining ¿ and ¡, Unicode character: ⸘), suitable for starting phrases in [[Spanish (language)|Spanish]], [[Galician language|Galician]], and [[Asturian language|Asturian]]—which use [[inverted question and exclamation marks]]—is called an "inverted interrobang" or, rarely, a ''gnaborretni'' (''interrobang'' spelled backwards).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2E00.pdf |title=Unicode Code Charts, Supplemental Punctuation, 2E00–2E7F |access-date=March 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812080522/http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2E00.pdf |archive-date=August 12, 2011 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In current practice, interrobang-like emphatic ambiguity in Hispanic languages is usually achieved by including both sets of punctuation marks, one inside the other: (''¿¡De verdad!?'' or ''¡¿De verdad?!'' [''Really!?'']).<ref>[[Real Academia Española|RAE]]'s [https://www.rae.es/dpd/interrogaci%C3%B3n Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508023039/https://www.rae.es/dpd/interrogaci%C3%B3n |date=May 8, 2020 }} {{in lang|es}}</ref> Older usage, still official but not widespread, recommended mixing the punctuation marks: ''¡Verdad?'' or ''¿Verdad!''<ref>{{cite book |last=de Buen |first=Jorge |title=Manual de diseño editorial |edition=3rd |publisher=Trea |location=Gijón |year=2008 |isbn=978-84-9704-378-6}}{{page needed|date=June 2013}}</ref>
{{further information|Upside-down question and exclamation marks#Mixtures}}

==Codepoint==
{{Special characters|Unicode|section}}
{{see also|Unicode input}} 
The symbol is encoded in [[Unicode]]'s [[General Punctuation]] block at [[codepoint]] {{unichar|203D|Interrobang}}.

Unicode encodes these variants:
* {{unichar|2048|Question Exclamation Mark|html=}}
* {{unichar|2049|Exclamation Question Mark|html=}}
** {{Emoji presentation|⁉}} with an [[emoji variation selector]]
* {{unichar|2E18|Inverted Interrobang}}
* {{unichar|1f679|heavy interrobang ornament}}
* {{unichar|1f67A|sans-serif interrobang ornament}}
* {{unichar|1f67b|heavy sans-serif interrobang ornament}}

== Examples of use ==

The [[State Library of New South Wales]], in Australia, uses an interrobang as its logo,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-11-11|title=State Library {{!}}New South Wales |url=https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/welcome |access-date=2022-01-08 |website=State Library of NSW |archive-date=January 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108134736/https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/welcome|url-status=live}}</ref> as does the educational publishing company [[Pearson PLC|Pearson]], which thus intends to convey "the excitement and fun of learning".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/corporate/global/pearson-dot-com-v2/files/logos/Pearson_Guidelines_Logo.pdf|title=Pearson Brand Guidelines: Logo|date=2016|publisher=Pearson.com|access-date=July 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312102802/https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/corporate/global/pearson-dot-com-v2/files/logos/Pearson_Guidelines_Logo.pdf|archive-date=March 12, 2016|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

The logo of the [[National Endowment for the Humanities]] incorporates eight exclamation marks and eight question marks; although their main strokes are separate, they all share the same dot, as in some variants of interrobangs.

Chief Judge [[Frank H. Easterbrook]] used an interrobang in the 2012 [[United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit|United States Seventh Circuit]] opinion ''Robert F. Booth Trust v. Crowley''.<ref name="99pi 2018" /><ref name="Easterbrook 2012" />

[[Australian Federal Court]] Justice Michael Wigney used an interrobang in the first paragraph of his 2018 judgment in ''Faruqi v Latham [2018] FCA 1328'' (defamation proceedings between former Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham and political campaigner and writer Osman Faruqi).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2018/2018fca1328|title=Faruqi v Latham [2018] FCA 1328|website=www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au|access-date=September 16, 2020|archive-date=January 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125084312/https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2018/2018fca1328|url-status=live}}</ref>

In [[chess]], an interrobang is used to represent a dubious move, one that is questionable but possibly has merits.<ref name="CI14">{{cite book |editor-link=Aleksandar Matanović |editor-last=Matanović |editor-first=Aleksander |title=Šahovski Informator |trans-title=Chess Informant |volume=14 |pages=8–9 |year=1973 |location=Belgrade}}</ref> (See also the [[Chess annotation symbols#Evaluation symbols|evaluation symbols]] ?! (dubious move) and !? (interesting move).)

==See also==
* [[Irony punctuation|Irony mark]] (⸮)
* [[Inverted question and exclamation marks]] (¿¡)

==References==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="Easterbrook 2012">{{cite web | url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCOURTS-ca7-10-03285/pdf/USCOURTS-ca7-10-03285-0.pdf |title=Robert F. Booth Trust v. Crowley |first= Frank H |last= Easterbrook|author-link= Frank H. Easterbrook|date= June 13, 2012|page=8| access-date=July 18, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718205353/https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCOURTS-ca7-10-03285/pdf/USCOURTS-ca7-10-03285-0.pdf | archive-date=July 18, 2018 | url-status=live | df=mdy-all |quote=We don't get it. In order to avoid a ''risk'' of antitrust litigation, the company should be put through the litigation wringer (this suit) ''with certainty''‽ How can replacing a 1% or even a 20% chance of a bad thing with a 100% chance of the same bad thing make investors better off?}}</ref><ref name="99pi 2018">{{cite podcast| url= https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/interrobang/| title=Interrobang| website=[[99% Invisible]]| publisher= [[Radiotopia]]| host=[[Roman Mars]]| date= July 10, 2018| access-date= July 29, 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180730035659/https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/interrobang/transcript/|archive-date= July 30, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> }}

== External links ==

{{Wiktionary|‽|!?|?!|interrobang}}{{Commons}}


{{navbox punctuation}}

[[category:1960s neologisms]]
[[category:Latin-script ligatures]]
[[category:punctuation]]
[[category:symbols introduced in 1962]]
[[category:typographical symbols]]