Heather “Stone” Wolf Says

I love it! I must admit, as much as I lean (or perhaps bend over backwards) toward the classic side of the grammar debate the majority of the time, I vary on a few select issues. Such as the use of “they” for an unidentified singular antecedent. Don’t bother arguing with me, I say “they” and I’m sticking to it!

My other non-classicist leaning is my enjoyment of multiple punctuation marks. My email friends would certainly attest to this, my frequent use of multiple exclamation points is infamous! Despite this, I manage to squelch the urge when not instant messaging or writing informal emails, for the cleaner and grammatically correct single punctuation. However, perhaps because of the playwright in me, it is not an easy urge to quell. It is of paramount importance that I convey the intention of each sentence and oftentimes one punctuation just cannot express the depth of my emotion!(!) “Help! Help! I’m being repressed! Come see the violence inherent in the system!” I’m sorry, Monty Python quotes just slip out occasionally. Hey, it’s my blog, I’ll do what I want!

Anyway, this frequently happens to me with questions that are also exclamations, which is why I love the interrobang! Just saying it requires an exclamation point- Interrobang! Even if it were not so much fun just saying interrobang (okay, okay, I’ll stop), I appreciate the recognition that sometimes the surprise or incredulity of an interrogative statement rivals the fact that it is an interrogative statement. Not that grammarians completely caved, it is not a punctuation that is accepted in formal writing. It is also still a single punctuation, they just happened to slap an exclamation point on top of a question mark, or vice versa, if you like. But for all those who feel as I do, that occasionally one just isn’t enough, please go interrobang crazy- for all of us!

For proper use of the interrobang, please enjoy this very informative interrobang introduction by Grammar Girl:

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/punctuating-questions.aspx