From: Michael Everson (everson@evertype.com)
Date: Tue Sep 06 2005 - 01:39:49 CDT
At 18:53 -0700 2005-09-05, John Hudson wrote:
>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.
Exactly so.
>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.
Indeed.
-- Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com
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