Thoughts of the Day

[rikoren]

Suddenly I wondered, Is there any particular rule as to when you're supposed to use "!?" as opposed to "?!", and is it even considered proper grammar at all? Maybe I'm supposed to stick with "!!" and "??" even if they often don't quite convene exactly the emotion I'm trying to express. Or something.

...There may have been more to this question, but if there was, I've forgotten it.

Comments

[fuckyeahfish.livejournal.com]

I think ?! is the right one? Something about it being more of a question that became surprised or something, if that made sense. I don't think !! or ?? are good to use though.

/pressures

[rikoren.livejournal.com]

But what if it's a surprise that becomes a question! Then it'd make sense to use the other one, right? And lots of books or comics or whatever use ?? and !! or maybe even ??? and !!!!!!!! so I don't know.

/pressured ;;

[auriga]

Huh, I don't really know. I generally see "?!" more often (seconding fuckyeahfish in that it's like a surprised question) but I don't even know if it's actually proper grammar. XD; I know FF.net automatically deletes them when they're together...

[fuckyeahfish.livejournal.com]

I'm... not sure. 8D; I always used ?! coz it looked nicer, and made more sense to me. I guess !! could work, but it looks redundant on an application, not like in comics.

[rikoren.livejournal.com]

I've never seen it in an English textbook, that's for sure. :o But people use punctuation marks like that all the time! So it's very confusing.

...FF.net has a habit of getting rid of all my extra spaces too, so I can't make funny-looking paragraphs. :

[rikoren.livejournal.com]

I...was going to say I use both interchangeably but then I realized I rarely use either!? Applications have no need for overused punctuation marks unless you're apping somebody who shouts a lot, cos then you've got an excuse!

[herazi.livejournal.com]

I never thought there was a difference, myself. I always saw it as !? so that's what I ended up using.

[fuckyeahfish.livejournal.com]

/apps a shouting person

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rikoren.livejournal.com]

They both work, it seems! I tend to use, whichever, myself.

[rikoren.livejournal.com]

/apps an overreacting person

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[theeternalmind.livejournal.com]

?! and !? are both completely acceptable, in my view. Whether or not the textbooks agree with me, I don't know, but anyone who gives you crap for using one over the other is a tool. However, you don't want to use more than three such punctuation marks in a row (!!!, ???, !?!, ?!?, ??!, etc.) or then you will look like a tool--and you also want to keep use of those very sparse. Stick with one or two. (If you're just fucking around, it's okay to go wild, but if you're trying to be serious, stick with three or less with a bias towards "less.")

I don't know that there's any hard or fast grammar/punctuation rules for this kind of thing, but I do know from personal experience that someone who talks in ALL CAPS WITH LOTS AND LOTS OF EXCLAMATION MARKS ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!! makes me want to reach through the screen and slap them. Or at least tell them to stop yelling at me through the internet. (But that's a little off-topic here...)

[rikoren.livejournal.com]

I never really use any of those, actually, but it's a strangely interesting topic today. And yelling people on the internet are more common than I'd like. I wonder if there's some way to make them stop yelling. Internet mute button!...Yeah?!

[fuckyeahfish.livejournal.com]

That icon makes me think more of KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!!!

[rikoren.livejournal.com]

Admittedly that does seem like it'd fit better. :o