Interrobang

The interrobang (/ɪnˈtɛrəbæŋ/),[1] also known as the interabang[2] (‽) (often represented by any

‽
of ?!, !?, ?!? or !?!), is an unconventional punctuation mark used in various written languages and
intended to combine the functions of the question mark, or interrogative point,[3] and the
exclamation mark, or exclamation point, known in the jargon of printers and programmers as a
"bang". The glyph is a superimposition of these two marks[4] and was first proposed in 1962 by
Martin K. Speckter.[5]
Interrobang

Contents
Application
History
Invention
Early interest
Continued support
Inverted interrobang
Entering and display
Examples of use
In popular culture
See also
References
External links

Application
A sentence ending with an interrobang asks a question in an excited manner, expresses excitement or disbelief in the form of a question,
or asks a rhetorical question.[6]

For example:

You call that a hat‽

Are you out of your mind‽
What are those‽

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.[7]

History
Historically, writers have used multiple punctuation marks to end a sentence expressing surprise and question.

What the...?! Neves, Called Dead in Fall, Denies It

— headline from San Francisco Examiner, May 9, 1936

Invention An interrobang
in the Palatino
American Martin K. Speckter (1915 – February 14, 1988)[8] conceptualized the interrobang in 1962. As the head of an Linotype font
advertising agency, Speckter believed that advertisements would look better if 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.[9] Speckter solicited possible names for the new character from readers. Contenders included exclamaquest,
QuizDing,[10] rhet, 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";[11] bang is printers' slang for the exclamation mark. Graphic
treatments for the new mark were also submitted in response to the article.[12]

Early interest
In 1965, Richard Isbell created the Americana typeface for American Type Founders and included the interrobang as one of the
characters.[13] In 1968, an interrobang key was available on some Remington typewriters. In the 1970s, replacement interrobang
keycaps and typefaces were available for some Smith-Corona typewriters.[14] The interrobang was in vogue for much of the 1960s; the
word interrobang appeared in some dictionaries, and the mark was used in magazine and newspaper articles.[12]

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's OS X operating system, includes the interrobang, and Microsoft provides several versions of the interrobang in the
Wingdings 2 character set (on the right bracket and tilde keys on US keyboard layouts), included with Microsoft Office.[15] It was
accepted into Unicode[16] and is included in several fonts, including Lucida Sans Unicode, Arial Unicode MS, and Calibri, the default
font in the Office 2007, 2010, and 2013 suites.[17] It also works in the mono-spaced Bloomberg chat.

Inverted interrobang
A reverse and upside-down interrobang (combining ¿ and ¡, Unicode character: ⸘), suitable for starting phrases in Spanish, Galician and
Asturian, that use inverted question and exclamation marks, is called an "inverted interrobang" or a gnaborretni (interrobang spelled
backwards), but the latter is rarely used.[18] 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!?]).[19] Older usage,
still official but not widespread, recommended mixing the punctuation marks: ¡Verdad? or ¿Verdad![20]

Entering and display

Few modern typefaces or fonts include a glyph for the interrobang character. The standard interrobang is at Unicode code point
U+203D ‽ INTERROBANG. The inverted interrobang is at Unicode code point U+2E18 ⸘ INVERTED INTERROBANG.[21] Single-character
versions of the double-glyph versions are also available at code points U+2048 ⁈ QUESTION EXCLAMATION MARK and U+2049 ⁉
EXCLAMATION QUESTION MARK.[21]

On a Linux system supporting the Compose key, an interrobang can be produced by Compose ! ? ; reversing the order ( Compose ? ! )
creates the inverted interrobang.

On macOS, it is found on the Character Palette, obtained by pressing the key combination Ctrl + ⌘ Cmd + Space .

The interrobang can be inserted in HTML with ‽.

The interrobang can be displayed in LaTeX by using the package textcomp and the command \textinterrobang. The inverted
interrobang is the command \textinterrobangdown.

Examples of use
The State Library of New South Wales, in Australia, uses an interrobang as its logo,[22] as does the educational publishing company
Pearson, which thus intends to convey "the excitement and fun of learning".[23]

Chief Judge Frank H. Easterbrook used an interrobang in the 2012 United States Seventh Circuit opinion Robert F. Booth Trust v.
Crowley.[24][25]

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).[26]

In Chess, an interrobang is used to represent a dubious move, one which is questionable but possibly has merits.[27] (See also the
evaluation symbols !? (dubious move) and ?! (interesting move).)

In popular culture
American rock band Bayside titled their 8th studio album Interrobang and American rock band Switchfoot titled their 12th studio
album Interrobang.

The Wheeler Centre in Melbourne, Australia ran "The Interrobang - a Festival of Questions" in November 2015, an event which used
crowd-sourced questions as the basis for panel discussions and podcast episodes.

In the science fantasy novel Battle of the Linguist Mages by Scotto Moore, where punctuation marks are an alien intelligence hosted by
human minds, the interrobang is a character with sentience and personality.

See also
Irony mark (⸮)
Inverted question and exclamation marks (¿¡)
Interrabang is an Italian film,[28] released on December 31, 1969
Interbang – an Italian television series
References
1. "Interrobang" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Interrobang). Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
2. "interabang" (http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=interabang). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
(5th ed.). November 1, 2011. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20121114175941/http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=int
erabang) from the original on November 14, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
3. Mandeville, Henry (1851). A Course of Reading for Common Schools and the Lower Classes of Academies (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=4t4NAQAAMAAJ&q=%22interrogative+point%22&pg=PA44). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210915031227/h
ttps://books.google.com/books?id=4t4NAQAAMAAJ&q=%22interrogative+point%22&pg=PA44) from the original on September 15,
2021. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
4. Gleckler, Arthur. "The Jargon File" (http://speechcode.com/jargon/jargon.info.Top.html). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20120
426091238/http://speechcode.com/jargon/jargon.info.Top.html) from the original on April 26, 2012. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
5. "Martin K. Speckter, 73, Creator of Interrobang" (https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/16/obituaries/martin-k-speckter-73-creator-of-inte
rrobang.html). The New York Times. February 16, 1988. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160320015031/http://www.nytime
s.com/1988/02/16/obituaries/martin-k-speckter-73-creator-of-interrobang.html) from the original on March 20, 2016. Retrieved
February 9, 2017.
6. "Interrobang (Punctuation)" (https://www.thoughtco.com/interrobang-punctuation-term-1691181). ThoughtCo. Archived (https://web.a
rchive.org/web/20190806105531/https://www.thoughtco.com/interrobang-punctuation-term-1691181) from the original on August 6,
2019. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
7. Punctuation (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Punctuation.html?page=2) Archived (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20150402154718/http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Punctuation.html?page=2) April 2, 2015, at the
Wayback Machine. Chicago Style Q&A. Chicago Manual of Style Online. (15th ed.) Accessed August 28, 2007.
8. "Martin K. Speckter, 73, Creator of Interrobang" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160320015031/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/16/
obituaries/martin-k-speckter-73-creator-of-interrobang.html). New York Times. February 16, 1988. Archived from the original (https://
www.nytimes.com/1988/02/16/obituaries/martin-k-speckter-73-creator-of-interrobang.html) on March 20, 2016.
9. Spekter, Martin K. (March–April 1962). "Making a New Point, or, How About That …". TYPEtalks.
10. Garfield, Simon (2010). Just My Type: A Book About Fonts. London: Profile. p. 269. ISBN 978-1-84668-301-5.
11. Burton, Gideon O. "interrogatio" (https://web.archive.org/web/20051119182734/http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/figures/I/interrogati
o.htm). Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric. Brigham Young University. Archived from the original (http://humanities.byu.edu/rh
etoric/Figures/I/interrogatio.htm) on November 19, 2005. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
12. Haley, Allan (June 2001). "The Interrobang Is Back" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080507055249/http://www.fonthaus.com/xheigh
t/interrobang.cfm). fonthaus.com. Archived from the original (http://www.fonthaus.com/xheight/interrobang.cfm) on May 7, 2008.
Retrieved December 3, 2010.
13. Houston, Keith (2013). Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, & Other Typographical Marks. New York: W. W.
Norton. p. 29.
14. Smith-Corona flyer illustrating the Changeable Type system with an exclamation mark / interrobang unit (https://sites.google.com/sit
e/rpforwarded/Home/interrobang1.jpg) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20090326214527/http://sites.google.com/site/rpforwar
ded/Home/interrobang1.jpg) March 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Accessed March 7, 2009.
15. The Interrobang: A Twentieth Century Punctuation Mark. (http://www.interrobang-mks.com/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0041013080952/http://www.interrobang-mks.com/) October 13, 2004, at the Wayback Machine Accessed August 28, 2007.
16. "Unicode Code Charts, General Punctuation, 2000–206F" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110804231917/http://www.unicode.org/ch
arts/PDF/U2000.pdf) (PDF). Archived from the original (http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2000.pdf) (PDF) on August 4, 2011.
Retrieved March 3, 2011.
17. MSDN fontblog (http://blogs.msdn.com/fontblog/archive/2005/12/22/506936.aspx) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201003070
25631/http://blogs.msdn.com/fontblog/archive/2005/12/22/506936.aspx) March 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Accessed August
28, 2007.
18. "Unicode Code Charts, Supplemental Punctuation, 2E00–2E7F" (http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2E00.pdf) (PDF). Archived (https://
web.archive.org/web/20110812080522/http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2E00.pdf) (PDF) from the original on August 12, 2011.
Retrieved March 3, 2011.
19. RAE's Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas (https://www.rae.es/dpd/interrogaci%C3%B3n) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20
200508023039/https://www.rae.es/dpd/interrogaci%C3%B3n) May 8, 2020, at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
20. de Buen, Jorge (2008). Manual de diseño editorial (3rd ed.). Gijón: Trea. ISBN 978-84-9704-378-6.
21. Everson, Michael. Proposal to add INVERTED INTERROBANG to the UCS (http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2935.pdf)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20110524202155/http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2935.pdf) May 24, 2011, at the
Wayback Machine, April 1, 2005
22. scheme=AGLSTERMS. AglsAgent; corporateName=State Library of New South Wales; address=Macquarie Street, Sydney
(November 11, 2015). "State Library of NSW" (https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/welcome). State Library of NSW. Archived (https://web.arc
hive.org/web/20220108134736/https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/welcome) from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved January 8,
2022.
23. "Pearson Brand Guidelines: Logo" (https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/corporate/global/pearson-dot-com-v2/files/logos/Pearson
_Guidelines_Logo.pdf) (PDF). Pearson.com. 2016. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160312102802/https://www.pearson.co
m/content/dam/corporate/global/pearson-dot-com-v2/files/logos/Pearson_Guidelines_Logo.pdf) (PDF) from the original on March
12, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
24. Roman Mars (July 10, 2018). "Interrobang" (https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/interrobang/). 99% Invisible (Podcast).
Radiotopia. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20180730035659/https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/interrobang/transcript/)
from the original on July 30, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
25. Easterbrook, Frank H (June 13, 2012). "Robert F. Booth Trust v. Crowley" (https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCOURTS-ca7-10-0328
5/pdf/USCOURTS-ca7-10-03285-0.pdf) (PDF). p. 8. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20180718205353/https://www.gpo.gov/fd
sys/pkg/USCOURTS-ca7-10-03285/pdf/USCOURTS-ca7-10-03285-0.pdf) (PDF) from the original on July 18, 2018. Retrieved
July 18, 2018. "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?"
26. "Faruqi v Latham [2018] FCA 1328" (https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2018/2018fca1328).
www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20220125084312/https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/jud
gments/Judgments/fca/single/2018/2018fca1328) from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
27. Matanović, Aleksander, ed. (1973). Šahovski Informator [Chess Informant]. Vol. 14. Belgrade. pp. 8–9.
28. "IMDB entry for Interrabang movie" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064488/). www.imdb.com. IMDB. Archived (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20170211012421/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064488/) from the original on February 11, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2018.

External links
The Interrobang: A twentieth-century punctuation mark (https://web.archive.org/web/20041013080952/http://www.interrobang-mks.c
om/)
National Punctuation Day Reignites: Interrobang Passion (http://fontfeed.com/archives/the-interrobang-and-national-punctuation-da
y) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080928052812/http://fontfeed.com/archives/the-interrobang-and-national-punctuation-da
y/) September 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
99 Percent Invisible podcast episode and article about the interrobang (https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/interrobang/)

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