Talk:Exclamation mark

message: The references to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter are useless to those not familiar with the show. We should replace them with something more generic or well known.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.150.172.46 (talk) 03:40, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Harry Potter/Fullmetal Alchemist references 

message: Nowadays asian languages such as chinese and japanese also use the western exclamation and question marks. Is it known when they started using it, and what it replaced? - 83.233.145.199 (talk) 23:41, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Asian languages? 

message: What's considered more proper out of these ways to end a sentence? "What?!" or "What!?"
*See interrobang. Shimgray | talk | 17:07, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Question marks with exclamations 

message: The computer warning image is pretty lame.  A little too generic, don't you think?  I'd replace it with a more exemplary sample but I'd first like to clear up whether an exclamation mark is a Win32-specific warning icon.  The only other desktop GUIs I'm familiar with are a variety of X Window System widgets and atrocities.  Any Mac people care to chime in? mordemur 13:37, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Computer warning image 

message: This article should mention the temptation to use multiple exclamation marks to emphasise the importance of a sentence!!! But it should also mention that this practice is discouraged in formal or professional writing!!!!!! Perhaps it should also include a reference to the "!!!!1111!!!oneoneone" phenomenon in leet!!!!!!!!!
However, there's a brand of wine whose official name is Est! Est!! Est!!!. That's certainly a creative use of typography.  — JIP | Talk 1 July 2005 11:53 (UTC)
For fun, you could also refer to Terry Pratchett here, a well known fantasy writer who really hates the use of multiple exclamation marks, and has some funny quotes about them in his books:
 "'And all those exclamation marks, you notice? Five? A sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head.'" 
 (in Maskerade)
 "'Multiple exclamation marks,' he went on, shaking his head, 'are a 
 sure sign of a diseased mind.'"
 (in Eric)
 "Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind."
 (Terry Pratchett in "Reaper Man")
----
I also recall a line from Joseph Heller's Catch 22 that went like this:
 Yossarian!!!(?)!
I am also eager to find out, if this occurs in Spanish language as well. For example, is the following sentence correct?
¡¿¿¡¿Qué?!??!
--195.113.25.252 15:42, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The (conservative) magazine National Review once printed a brief style guide for prospective writers.  It said that exclamation marks were correct only in speech, and only if the speaker had been recently disembowelled. WHPratt (talk) 15:13, 15 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Multiple exclamation marks!!! 

message: I've been seeing the exclamation mark used in places one wouldn't normally expect in German, Swedish and the like - example, the first line of the Lord's Prayer in Swedish, "Fader vår som är i himmelen!" or the first line of Silent Night in German, "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht!"  Anyone know what the significance of this is?  Or am I just being a moron? Idekii 03:02, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, it's because they are exclamations! As opposed to "proper" full sentences of the sort this one isn't. In English we have perhaps tended to use the exclamation mark less nowadays for its original purpose (as opposed to using it to mark an emotion like surprise, anger or humour, as I did above), but some languages are more conservative about these things. Flapdragon 03:10, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Exclamation mark in Germanic languages 

message: If anyone is interested...
In the George III operating system running on ICl 1900 series in the early 1970s, ! was available as the name of a file that was not entered into any folder, it would be deleted as soon as you logged out.
:In the computer language Forth, "!" is used instead of "=" to store a value in a variable.  There is a good reason for this, but too complicated to go into here.CharlesTheBold (talk) 04:47, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Computer Usage 

message: I'm going to move the groups that are all basically "uses in different fields" to one section (and make them subsections) if everyone's all right with that. In other words, the sections from "Warning" to "Chess" will each get an extra "=" on the sides. Um, the countdown is... three days. I'm changing it on Friday Morning if no one objects here or at my talkpage. --Lenoxus 20:27, 14 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Er, I take that back. There's a lot more mess here than I noticed the first time around, especially the "Natural languages" section, which seems to be a bit of a ramble -- interesting and important facts, but rambling nonetheless. I'll do some serious thinking about this and turn here if I have any "non-minor" ideas. --Lenoxus 01:15, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Aaannd... it seems to have been done anyway. I take to credit. --Lenoxus 19:14, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Moving groups 

message: The main page refers to 'io' as possible origin.  Any credence in the alternative that it is derived from 'Lo' - an expression of surprise?
It's not "Lo," that should be (lowercase) Greek ιω meaning "io." --72.195.145.248 16:02, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Alternative origin 

message: I remember seeing references that the origin of the using the word "bang" for the exclamation point came from typesetting (I believe the early monotype machines where the individual letters were punched out of cold strips of metal (see the first part of the history in Monotype machine). Supposedly the sound made by the "!" character was a bang.
Does anyone have any verification to this origin?
CheyenneWills 15:12, 4 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rumored origin of using "bang" for the exclamation mark 

message: I added a reference to Panic! at the Disco in the section talking about advertising. I figured since Yahoo! and the musicals were there, it might be a good addition to note. 35.11.147.121 16:57, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Other uses of ! in advertising, marketing 

message: I'd edit it myself, but I don't have the authority.
"At the end of an imperative sentence: Ruf mich morgen an! (English: "Call me tomorrow.")"
The link to the 'imperative mood' ("http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_mood#Imperative_mood") is invalid, and should be replaced by: "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_mood#Imperative". —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Bowser128 (talk • contribs) 15:19, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Invalid link in the German section (2.5) 

message: I have lived in the UK all my life and I have never heard it called an 'exclamation point,' except in products that have been imported from the USA.  'Exclamation mark' is definitely the most common term in England.  Are you sure the article has it the right way around?  RobbieG 21:08, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Yeah, it's the wrong way round. The OED gives 'Exclamation mark' as the primary entry and 'Exclamation point' as a N. Amer. variation. Apparently both are in use in American English. Moogsi 17:33, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: That's incorrect. The OED gives no preference to either mark or point, but in its textual history, notes that "point" was used first, in 1841. Therefore, it should be point, not mark.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 160.39.232.207 (talk) 12:45, 27 September 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Nevertheless, exclamation mark is the standard name for the punctuation in the UK, where point is now almost unknown.  It was originally note of exclamation from 1656.  Dbfirs 22:46, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  British/American 

message: I have found that the ! has often been referred to as the GTFO symbol.
GTFO = Get the f*** out/off.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.106.59.83 (talk) 06:15, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Internet culture 

message: The geek code doesn't deserve its mention here; this is just the standard computer usage of ! for negation. 81.155.45.200 (talk) 19:08, 25 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Geek code

message: >> However, exclamation marks can also be placed mid-sentence and function like a comma ("There was a loud bang! at the door.")
A comma in place of the exclamation mark would be improperly placed, which proves the falsehood of this statement.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.179.219.251 (talk) 00:27, 16 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: The cite shows that it is so used by one (presumably respectable) writer, but I agree that this usage is probably considered non-standard by some.  I've adjusted the claim and removed the tag.  Dbfirs 23:41, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Same As A Question Mark? 

message: Is it just me, or does that section not make any sense at all? Futuremyst (talk) 19:12, 7 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Fandom" ? 

message: I feel that this article should address the double exclamation mark ("‼"). While a short description is available in the "‼" disambiguous page, it seems more appropriate for this article and could use a better deeper exploration of its usage. DKqwerty (talk) 21:26, 6 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Double exclamation mark 

message: Why is the interrobang featured multiple times in this article?  The Wikipedia article on interrobang even says, "The interrobang failed to amount to much more than a fad, however. It has not become a standard punctuation mark."  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.115.196.101 (talk) 01:22, 4 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Interrobang 

message: I feel like having the two sections "Usage" and "Use in various fields" to be redundant. The "Usage" portion applies it only to language and literature, yet the article proceeds to outline "Languages" and "Use in various fields" in entirely different sections. I guess I am proposing that the segments be reorganized better, to avoid such redundancies. 76.229.166.202 (talk) 22:49, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: The two sections are different topics, and should remain distinct.  The section"Usage" refers to usage in the grammatical sense, as a punctuation mark.  The section "Use in various fields" is about non-punctuation use of the character as a symbol or as an element of notation.  The sections could perhaps be better named to avoid the appearance of redundancy. TJRC (talk) 23:14, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Redundant 

message: I have used 'pling' for "!" in a computing context since about 1982. It was popular in Britain. The article gave no explanation for it, I added a brief mention, but can anyone add more detail?
:Widely used in BBC BASIC as a 32-bit PEEK and POKE, then in Acorn RiscOS.  Dbfirs 22:48, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Pling & Shriek

message: "The exclamation mark did not have its own dedicated key on standard manual typewriters before the 1970s. Instead, one typed a period, backspaced, and typed an apostrophe."
While many typewriters indeed lacked an exclamation mark key, it seems worthwile examining to what extent this was actually a standard.
These German typewriters of 1964, 1941 and 1920 had the exclamation mark:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Keyboard_on_a_German_mechanical_Olympia_typewriter.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jts66/5218116231/in/pool-27475260@N00
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Schreibmaschine_rheinmetall_1920_imgp8365.jpg
This Italian Olivetti typewriter of the 50s also had it, though on a different position:
http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soubor:Olivetti_Lettera_22_by_LjL.jpeg
--Liberatus (talk) 13:00, 29 December 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Typewriters 

message: I have seen the Fitzgerald quote in this article several places, but I have been unable to find any source.  When did he actually say or write that?  I am finding online articles (Boston Globe, BBC, Guardian, etc.) written only in the last few years.  (Are they using Wikipedia as a source?) Slow Graffiti (talk) 21:04, 23 December 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  F. Scott Fitzgerald 

message: I stated that exclamation marks are generally considered unacceptable in formal prose especially in Australia—usually in the case of making an e-mail work effective, accroding to Effective use of email from E-strategy guide of Government of Australia, Dept. of Broadband. But 120.18.98.210 stated "no evidence that repeated use of the exclamation mark is particularly criticised in Australia". I believe that there is such an evidence, swear.
----
Anyway, I saw that this article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale and has been rated as High-importance on the importance scale. Sadly yet, B-Class is not enough—it should be S-Class instead. Muhammadrizkya (talk) 23:05, 17 February 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Australian Evidence 

message: Hey User:Sangchaud do you have any source on that Musical titles thing?  It sounds like some made-up notion, and without a source I'm inclined to remove it.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Battling McGook (talk • contribs) 17:46, 8 October 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Musical names? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: The section on Greek usage we have this:
Ōch, xéchasa to máti tīs kouzínas anoichtó!, "Oops! I left the stove on."
I know that is common to see in English but from what I've been able to tell it is wrong. The correct English grammar is the same as the Greek "Oops, I left the stove on!".  Something like "Expletive! I left the stove on." would be correct (depending on the expletive a comma might also be correct with the exclamation mark at the end), and so when people put an interjection that actually belongs in the sentence they use an exclamation mark incorrectly.   This isn't mentioned in the bit about English usage either.
I am not qualified to correct the article except as an English speaker.
source:
http://www.k12reader.com/exclamatory-sentences-rock/
Also it should be noted that exclamation marks are not used in English formal writing such as reports (with a few very specific exceptions).  Indeed the UK government recently issued schools advice that all uses of exclamation marks that did not begin with 'how' or 'what' were wrong (though as an example of how fluid language is, they didn't stipulate that they were talking about formal writing and much hilarity ensued).
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Education/article1675680.ece
82.25.23.181 (talk) 13:48, 6 March 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: "Oops" works just fine as an interjection and therefore as a separate sentence, so I think "Oops!  I left the stove on." is perfectly correct.  But even if it is not an interjection or separate sentence, there are still some sources that say it's ok, and certainly in 18th and 19th century usage mid-sentence exclamation marks were not uncommon. Battling McGook (talk) 16:50, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Greek use section implies incorrect English grammar 

message: Should a mention of the fiat the department wishes to impose about the use of the symbol be made?
As is said in various newspaper letters columns the proposal is flawed ('Never.' and 'Never!' and 'Never again.' and 'Never Again!' mean quite different things.) 193.132.104.10 (talk) 15:00, 10 March 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  UK Department of Education and exclamation marks 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I just added a sentence to the article that says, "However, use of exclamation marks in contexts that are not unambiguously positive can be misinterpreted as indicating hostility." This immediately followed the mention of how "exclamation marks may also function as markers of friendly interaction" in the "English" section. Setting aside the somewhat awkward wording of my addition (it was the best I could manage), I was surprised when I went to cite a source that I could not find one. (!) Surely I can't be alone in thinking this is an obviously true statement (in fact, it's based on personal experience), but all the search results I could come up with seem to be pointing out the exact opposite: that "nowadays" not using an exclamation mark in certain contexts can be interpreted as being overly "curt", "sarcastic", "aggressive", or even "passive aggressive" (I did not save examples to link to). Can someone find a source that points out the obvious fact that an exclamation mark can be misinterpreted as imparting negative emotion to a remark when that was not intended? (Indeed — and this is going beyond what I would put into the article without a source — I might even hypothesize that this phenomenon may partially explain the observation that women use exclamation marks more than men. In particular, since men are associated more with "negative" intense emotions like aggression, their use of exclamation marks [especially in "ambiguous" cases] might be more likely to be interpreted as indicating such negative emotions, whereas women's use of exclamation marks in the same cases might be more likely to be interpreted as indicating "positive" emotions, like friendliness or enthusiasm. For the record, I didn't come across any sources discussing this possibility.) - dcljr (talk) 03:11, 26 June 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: To give an example of what I'm talking about (although not an especially good one — it's not related to that "personal experience" I alluded to, BTW): In the exchange, "Going to the party?" "Won't be there!", the responder might have intended the exclamation mark to connote: "Oh, no! I can't make it! What a bummer!", but the receiver of the reply might misinterpret it as meaning: "No way I'm going to that stupid party!". Something like that. - dcljr (talk) 03:18, 26 June 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Misinterpretation 

message: An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect /!\. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so.  –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 20:20, 24 April 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  "/!\" listed at [[Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion|Redirects for discussion]] 

message: In the book "Because Internet" by Gretchen McCulloch, there is additional insight into the origins of quality!character in coming from early email pathing and then transitioning to the X-files fandom, spreading from there. I think that this is a lot more likely than the current speculation on the origins. I don't feel qualified to add this myself, but I think its worth looking into for anyone interested. 24.19.191.237 (talk) 04:11, 23 September 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Origins of quality!character 

message: Please help; I created my first new page after 10 years of no-show in Wikipedia.
There is a small silly (from my point of view) "red exclamation mark in a red triangle" symbol right on the first line after the name of the article, with the timestamp of the last edit written (the timestamp is clickable but not the red symbol). WHAT DOES THAT SYMBOL MEAN PLEASE ?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.158.152.57 (talk) 22:35, 1 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Since ten years ago, you can no longer just go ahead and create whatever new article you can think of whenever you think of it. The process now is described at Wikipedia:Articles for creation. [The symbol you describe is a standard road-traffic 'caution sign' that tells you that there may be trouble ahead. But without seeing the article you mean, I can't advise further.] --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 00:34, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for the info, I'll read that link more thoroughly... however the symbol I described is NOT in that page (mine is more or less of that sizing BUT it's NOT in a circle but a triangle and it's NONE of those interior symbols but an EXCLAMATION mark (yes that one here:   !   ))   --207.236.123.50 (talk) 04:13, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: No, it won't be in that page in particular, it is just a generic traffic warning sign. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 10:46, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Exclamation mark in Wikipedia interface 

message: ab 103.121.6.1 (talk) 22:25, 19 April 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: One in English (and most European languages, except Spanish which has two: ). --𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 23:50, 19 April 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  How many characters it have? 

message: Despite arabic has a mirrored "?", then why there is no variation for arabic "!"? I think this such an odd thing to explore some of trivial stuff. Correct me if i am wrong . 2404:8000:1027:85F6:2981:C491:8BDE:92FA (talk) 09:16, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Arabic "!"