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A.Word.A.Day--interrobang

interrobang also interabang (in-TER-uh-bang) noun

A punctuation mark (‽) used especially to end a simultaneous question and exclamation.

[Interro (gation point) + bang, exclamation point (printers' slang).]

"`You mean the exclamation point superimposed over a question mark?!' said Sam, a fourth-grader from Phoenix who was riding the chair with us. `We just learned about the interrobang in school.'"
Stephen Wilbers, Liven the conversation by discussing punctuation, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 3 Apr 1998.

Recently one of the readers of AWAD coined a clever example using that day's word and excitedly asked, "Now how is THAT for a sentence?!" Were the interrobang mark available on her keyboard, it would have been a perfect opportunity for it's use. An interrobang is an exclamation sign (!) placed over a question mark (?) such that both share the same dot (‽). This week's AWAD features other marks used in writing, some familiar, others not so familiar. -Anu

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