The Interrobang‽ WTF Is That‽

The Interrobang WTF Is That

I was innocently eating watermelon while listening the NPR one afternoon earlier this month when Says You! informed me that there is a punctuation mark for grammatical situations requiring both a question mark and an exclamation point, and it's been in use since the sixties. "WTF?!", I exclaimed out loud, but I could have said "WTF", instead.

The punctuation mark, a combination of exclaimation and question marks, is the Interrobang. "Interro" for interrogative, and "bang" for the impact of the exclamation point. A better name could have been decided on, I'm sure, but it was the sixties and probably seemed hip at the time.

Addendum:

Punctuation is timeless and deserves better than a trendy name. I've tried to come up some alternate names for the interrobang, but have been unsuccessful. Questaimation Mark? Exquestation Point? Interrex? Surely part of the reason why the interrobang didn't get taught in school was the comic book flippancy of its name. Any self-respecting kid of my generation would have felt a siren call to sing the Interrobang's comedic praises:

Bang! Zip! Pow!
NANAnana nanaNAna NANAnana nanaNAna Interrobang!
Interrobang!
INTERROBAAANG!