What Could Be Cooler Than This Blog‽

The symbol in the title of this post is not a misprint. It is a mark of punctuation called an interrobang.   

 
I learned about it while reading a UK blog called Shady Characters, which is all about punctuation. It was invented in the early 1960's by Martin Speckter, an amateur typographer who edited a journal entitled "Type Talks". He was also in advertising and was looking for a punctuation symbol that would express both exclamation and questioning.  

For example, in the title, a question mark alone doesn’t give any indication of the indignity or shock while an exclamation mark fails to reveal the questioning nature.  Or, as Merriam Webster defines it, "a punctuation mark designed for use especially at the end of an exclamatory rhetorical question." Who hasn't needed that recently‽    

 

 
If this sounds like your cup of tea, check out the history of the pilcrow at the same site.  


It should get you in the right mood to watch the royal wedding later this week. Yawn. Time for a nap.