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I don't really like the dedicated interrobang character, because it loses the distinction between ?! and !?, which is probably rather subtle, but to my mind def
by iggldiggl 5y ago
I don't really like the dedicated interrobang character, because it loses the distinction between ?! and !?, which is probably rather subtle, but to my mind definitively there.
- Y_Y 5y agoI would argue that those two choices remain available to you, and that you can reach even finer levels of subtlety by using (or conspicuously not using) the interrobang. (Just don't use "??!" because that's a trigraph for "|".)
- joombaga 5y agoHow would you define "?!" vs "!?" ? I agree they're different. To me the "greater" feeling comes second. "?!" is more surprising, while "!?" is more confusing. With "‽" the feelings are equal.
- willhinsa 5y agoI agree with you on ‽, but differ with you on the "!?" and "?!" -- for me, the first character is the stronger marker of sentiment.
- rplst8 5y agoIf I could roughly generalize the sentiment: Are you just going to stand there and lie through your teeth?! Have you ever seen such an amazing sunset!?
- CRConrad 5y agoSo you're with joombaga, not willhimsa -- right?
- iggldiggl 5y agoI'd tend towards willhinsa and yes, I'd rather switch the question and exclamation marks around in rplst8's examples.
- joombaga 5y agoMy thought is that punctuation "terminates" a sentence, and so the mark that's further to the right is "terminated" later, therefore it more represents the overall sentiment. The left punctuation mark is like a modifier; it's an adjective before a noun.
- Y_Y 5y agoAre you just going to stand there and tell me this isn't the most amazing sunset you've ever seen‽
- iggldiggl 5y agoI think I'd agree with that, too, i.e. the first character being the stronger marker.