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A blend of Latininterrogātiō(“examination, inquiry, interrogation, questioning”) + bang(“exclamation mark, exclamation point”), coined in a 1962 article in the journal TYPEtalks by American advertising executive Martin K. Speckter (1915–1988), who invented the symbol.
1968 November 15, William Zinsser, “For clear expression: Try words: The interrobang”, in Life, volume 65, number 20, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 24:
Has anyone seen an interrobang? It's a newly invented punctuation mark that looks like this: ‽ A question mark with an exclamation point superimposed, it's meant to convey that nuance of feeling—a mixture of query and surprise—that people have in mind when they say "Really?", also meaning "Really!", or "How about that‽" […] The cure for incredibility is not more punctuation, but more plain talk. We don't need symbols like the interrobang that merely express our perpetual disbelief. We need plain words to express plain truths.
The Interrobang is not a font – just a single character. Yet it is so powerful a symbol, and such a flawed and original concept, that it deserves a place alongside the most adventurous typographic innovations of the last century. It is an exclamation mark and a question mark combined, a ligature looping the curve of the interrogation with the downward force of the expletive (which compositors and printers have traditionally called a bang). When they meld, they need only one round point at their base.
2013, Keith Houston, “The Interrobang”, in Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks, New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, pages 28–29:
Popular as it was with writers and admen, the interrobang faced a struggle for mainstream acceptance. Simulating an interrobang on a typewriter was possible, if clumsy—type "?" and then overstrike it with "!"—but for typesetters creating a printed document, there was no such shortcut. Those advertisements, brochures, and books that actually honored the writer's use of the character had to be set using handcrafted interrobangs, either drawn by an illustrator or sculpted from rubber cement with a razor blade.
2014, John Senior, “Idea 79: The Interabang!?”, in 100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers: Gifted and Talented, London: Bloomsbury Education, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 94:
Introduce the notion of combining punctuation marks in new ways. Explain the Interabang and its use as a nonstandard punctuation mark intended to combine the functions of the question mark and the exclamation mark. Allowing your students the use of all keyboard symbols to create additional punctuation forms, what other punctuation combinations would prove useful in allowing greater expression through punctuation?
^ Martin K. Speckter (1962 March–April) “Making a new point, or, how about that …”, in TYPEtalks: see Keith Houston (2013) “The Interrobang”, in Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks, New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, pages 25–28.
^ “Martin K. Speckter, 73, creator of interrobang”, in The New York Times, 1988 February 16, archived from the original on 20 March 2016.
interrobang on Wikipedia.Wikipedia 