From: John Hudson (tiro@tiro.com)
Date: Mon Sep 05 2005 - 20:53:49 CDT
Patrick Andries wrote:
> Exactly. If they are used (by several authors), then they can
> legitimately be proposed for encoding. I always thought this was a
> simple litmus test, rather than reason by analogy and imagine how people
> could be using a rare (defunct ?) American invention in other cultures.
As I wrote in my first message, I think it is unnecessary to wonder about other cultures:
interrobang is an American invention and it is in the USA that an inverted interrobang
might reasonably be expected to be needed. I agree with Michael that it should be expected
that a sign based on two punctuation marks will conform to the typographical systems
related to those marks. Insofar as interrobang is directly related to the question mark
and exclamation mark, the existence of inverted versions of the latter *implies* the
existence of and inverted interrobang. If a user does want to use the interrobang with
Spanish text -- e.g. to advertise prepackaged tacos on the side of a bus: ¡¿Qué pasa,
señor?! --, then he is definitely going to want the corresponding inverted form.
Yes, it is all very silly, but it makes sense within the already existing silliness.
Accepting this implied need and moving on seems a better use of resources than
investigating whether any Iberian use is attested.
John Hudson
-- Tiro Typeworks www.tiro.com Vancouver, BC tiro@tiro.com
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