That words mutate over time is hardly surprising. For example, the word ‘gay’ has a very different meaning today, to that which it had in the 1920’s. Dictionary definitions of words simply follow and track the prevalent mores of the times.
Punctuation
represents a different case in point.
Punctuation marks provide “rules of the road” for how groups of words
fit together. They are a significant
tool in the writers’ “tool box”, with which they can indicate and influence how
they want their words to be read. So, a
simple example is: “This is the way forward!” and “This is the way forward?” Both contain exactly the same five words, but have
two completely different meanings, depending which simple, small, punctuation
mark is employed.
The advent of the type-writer, with only a limited number of keys, served to constrict the conventional number of punctuation marks available to most professional and amateur writers. However, printers and type-setters have always had access to a wider range of punctuation marks than are available on a traditional “qwerty” keyboard. One such punctuation mark is the ‘interrobang’ (or ‘interabang’), which is defined as:
Noun: “A printed punctuation mark (?), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.” (Websters: New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, 1996).
Of course, word processing packages can
create any number of new punctuation marks, simply by re-arranging a number of
pixels in a new pre-arranged order. In
an age where 140 characters or less are the “new normal” for tweets and other
e-communications, perhaps it is time for the widespread adoption of the
interrobang on our mobile devices?
Or,
do I hear you say “really!?"
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