dontravis.com
blog post #364
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| Courtesy of pl.m.wikipedia.com |
First
of all, a happy Thanksgiving Day wish to all my readers, foreign and domestic.
I say that because last month, I received 2000 hits from Israel, 800 from
Russia, and almost as many from Hong Kong, and the Netherlands.
Today’s
post was inspired by two things:
First,
it’s a holiday, and not many people will indulge in the practice of checking
some guy’s blog.
Second,
a recent reading in our Wordwrights Writing Class.
Last Monday, one
of our members read an original poem to the class, in which he used both
a question mark and a comma to end a sentence. This prompted a discussion of
why this unusual pairing. Unusual but not unheard of. Upon returning home
after class, I dragged out a paper I’d given the class two years ago.
I found it interesting and hope you will as well. The tip is reproduced below.
*****
WORDWRIGHTS
WEEKLY TIP #67 For Monday 7/10/17
A
deviation from the norm this week. Last Monday, Stan Rhine introduced us to a
form of punctuation called the interrobang (also known as the interabang),
which was unfamiliar to most of us. Let’s take a look at it.
The
interrobang was the concept of Martin K. Speckter, the head of an advertising
agency, who believed that ads would look better if copywriters conveyed
surprised rhetorical questions using a single mark. He introduced his idea in
the magazine TYPEtalks in 1962.
As
you can see from the glyph above, the interrobang is a fusion of the
exclamation point and the question mark used in informal English to ask a
question in an excited manner, express excitement or disbelief in the form of a
question, or to ask a rhetorical question.
Because
many fonts do not contain such a symbol, some writers use them in succession
(?! or !?). However, I produced an interrobang glyph from Microsoft Word’s
Character Map by using ALT+8253 (‽).
The Chicago Manual
of Style
is silent on interrobangs, as is Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference, The
Elements of Style, The Elements of
Editing, and English Grammar for
Dummies.
As
stated, many people are unfamiliar with the interrobang, and it enjoys limited
support today. The symbol is not a standard punctuation mark and should not be
used in formal writing. If you use it at all, do so rarely and selectively.
As
a matter of interest, the two grammatical marks in question are used as
punctuation in chess annotations. The “!?” denotes an interesting move, while
“?!” denotes a dubious move. Personally, I will limit use of the interrobang to
my copious writings on the great game of chess.
*****
While
I recognize not all readers are as fascinated by writing and grammar and the
like as I am, I hope you found the above interesting.
The Voxlightner
Scandal was released Tuesday, November
19. The following are buy links for the book”
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-voxlightner-scandal-don-travis/1132632844?ean=9781640809260
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/4AxPDo
Now
my mantra: Keep on reading and keep on
writing. You have something to say, so say it!
My
personal links: (Note the change in the Email address because I’m still getting
remarks on the old dontravis21@gmail.com. PLEASE DON’T USE
THAT ONE.)
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/donald.travis.982
Twitter:
@dontravis3
Buy
links to Abaddon’s Locusts:
See
you next week.
Don
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