Interrobang

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Combined question mark and exclamation mark

title: "Interrobang" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public description: "Combined question mark and exclamation mark" topic_path: "uncategorized" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrobang" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Combined question mark and exclamation mark ::

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The interrobang (), also known as the interabang (often rendered as ?!, !?, ?!?, ?!!, !??, or !?!), is an unconventional punctuation mark intended to combine the functions of the question mark (also known as the interrogative point) and the exclamation mark (also known in the jargon of printers and programmers as a "bang"). The glyph is a ligature of these two marks and was first proposed in 1962 by Martin K. Speckter.

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.{{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.

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.{{cite web |access-date = 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

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/interrobang.svg" caption="Linotype]] font"] ::

Historically, writers have used multiple consecutive punctuation marks to end a sentence expressing both surprise and question. ::quote[attribution="headline from ''[[San Francisco Examiner]]'', May 9, 1936"] What the...?! Neves, Called Dead in Fall, Denies It ::

Invention

American Martin K. Speckter (June 14, 1915 – February 14, 1988) conceptualized the interrobang in 1962. As the head of an 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. 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";{{ 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 | 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

Early interest

In 1965, Richard Isbell created the Americana typeface for American Type Founders and included the interrobang as one of the characters. 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. 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.

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. It was accepted into Unicode 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.

Upside-down interrobang ==

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

Codepoint

The symbol is encoded in Unicode's General Punctuation block at codepoint .

Unicode encodes these variants:

Examples of use

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

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 Seventh Circuit opinion Robert F. Booth Trust v. Crowley.

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).

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

References

References

  1. (November 1, 2011). "interabang". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.
  2. Mandeville, Henry. (1851). "A Course of Reading for Common Schools and the Lower Classes of Academies".
  3. "bang, n.¹ meanings, etymology and more {{!}} Oxford English Dictionary".
  4. Gleckler, Arthur. "The Jargon File".
  5. (16 February 1988). "Martin K. Speckter, 73, Creator of Interrobang". The New York Times.
  6. (16 February 1988). "Martin K. Speckter, 73, Creator of Interrobang". [[New York Times]].
  7. Spekter, Martin K.. (March–April 1962). "Making a New Point, or, How About That …". TYPEtalks.
  8. (2013). "Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, & Other Typographical Marks". W. W. Norton.
  9. [http://sites.google.com/site/rpforwarded/Home/interrobang1.jpg Smith-Corona flyer illustrating the Changeable Type system with an exclamation mark / interrobang unit] {{Webarchive. link. (March 26, 2009 Accessed March 7, 2009.)
  10. [http://www.interrobang-mks.com/ The Interrobang: A Twentieth Century Punctuation Mark.] {{Webarchive. link. (October 13, 2004 Accessed August 28, 2007.)
  11. "Unicode Code Charts, General Punctuation, 2000–206F".
  12. [http://blogs.msdn.com/fontblog/archive/2005/12/22/506936.aspx MSDN fontblog] {{Webarchive. link. (March 7, 2010 . Accessed August 28, 2007.)
  13. "Unicode Code Charts, Supplemental Punctuation, 2E00–2E7F".
  14. [[Real Academia Española. RAE]]'s [https://www.rae.es/dpd/interrogaci%C3%B3n Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas] {{Webarchive. link. (May 8, 2020 {{in lang). es
  15. de Buen, Jorge. (June 2013). "Manual de diseño editorial". Trea.
  16. (2015-11-11). "State Library {{!}}New South Wales".
  17. (2016). "Pearson Brand Guidelines: Logo". Pearson.com.
  18. "Faruqi v Latham [2018] FCA 1328".
  19. (1973). "Šahovski Informator".
  20. Easterbrook, Frank H. (June 13, 2012). "Robert F. Booth Trust v. Crowley".
  21. (July 10, 2018). "Interrobang". [[Radiotopia]].

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