Monday, September 14, 2009

no one expects the gnaborretni

=?!
another underused punctuation mark, the interrobang is an exclamation point (sometimes referred to as a "bang") overlayed with a question mark (a.k.a. an interrogative point) and it is used in the exact way these two symbols act when they are together: excited inquisition or disbelief (symbolic portmanteauism?).

the criticism for this mark is that it is much easier to just use a question mark and exclamation point in series than to devote another key for the sole purpose of the interrobang.

the greatest note about the interrobang, however, is when it is applied to the hispanic rule of inverting question marks to place them before the question. in this instance there is another symbol that is an inverted interrobang and its official name is "gnaborretni" which sounds slightly italian or spanish, but is actually just interrobang spelled backward!

¡¿es la verdad?! si.

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