Interrobang‽

This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on September 27, 2004). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

If I ever decide to move away from ‘eclecticism’ as a site name (which I’m not likely to do anytime soon), I think ‘interrobang‽‘ would be a great replacement.

The English language is constantly evolving. During the twentieth century alone we observed this evolution in many ways: spelling changes, new words, technology terms, scientific terms, and colloquialisms. Punctuation is also evolving. In 1962, the interrobang (‽), was introduced by the New York publishing establishment as “a twentieth century punctuation mark”. The interrobang combined the functions of a question mark and an exclamation point. It received some attention at first, but never caught on, although for a brief period during the 1960s it was added to some typewriter keyboards.

(via Boing Boing)