The interrobang is celebrating it's 50th birthday this year, which I learned from my boss's birthday card -a delightful little handbook detailing out all the fun things that happened way back in 1962! Of course the only useful thing I gleaned out of that card was a fun fact about punctuation. Pretty sure that makes me a dork. I think the reason this struck a chord with me is because I often speak in interrobangs- it seems all my questions end excitedly (aka squeekily high pitched). Anyhow, here's your learning for the day (courtesy of Yours Truly & Wikipedia, of course):
The interrobang (often represented by ?! or !?), is a nonstandard punctuation mark used in various written languages and intended to combine the functions of the question mark and the exclamation mark or exclamation point (known in printers’ jargon as the “bang”).
American Martin K. Speckter 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.
Here she is, the interrobang. Feast your eyes:
The interrobang failed to amount to much more than a fad, however. It has not become a standard punctuation mark. Although most fonts do not include the interrobang, it has not disappeared: Microsoft provides several versions of the interrobang character as part of the Wingdings 2 character set.
End of learning.
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