A Conversation for The Interrobang
Painful to look at
Fegbarr Started conversation Feb 15, 2005
Both the new-fangled interrobang and the older !? are redundant, to my somewhat warped mind. I was always taught that context tends to signify whether a question is rhetorical or not anyway, and if it doesn't it, er, should.
Plus, they're both hideously ugly.
Painful to look at
Gnomon - time to move on Posted Feb 16, 2005
How do you punctuate the following question followed by statement:
Am I right? Am I right?
Painful to look at
Fegbarr Posted Feb 16, 2005
Like this:
"Am I right? Am I right?"
The repetition alone signifies the urgency of the question. Or you could use italics.
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Gnomon - time to move on Posted Feb 16, 2005
The point is that the second "Am I right" is not a question, it is a statement. It is said with downward inflection and answers the first question. This doesn't come across in the way you punctuated it at all. This is a case where some other form of punctuation is necessary.
Painful to look at
pennspec Posted Feb 18, 2006
Sorry you don't like the interrobang. It's really useful. An early Philadelphia grammarian (about 1765) wrote there was one missing punctuation mark -- to indicate both a question and surprise.
my web page is interrobang-mks.com.
Lynne Truss didn't like the mark much either, but she articulated some misinformation about it. Said author wanted to be paid for use. NOT SO -- Purpose is to expand itsd use and provide an exact meaning to many a sentence.
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