{"id":21112,"date":"2021-06-25T12:49:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T12:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=21112"},"modified":"2021-06-25T12:49:02","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T12:49:02","slug":"pling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=21112","title":{"rendered":"Pling!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I discovered the other day the the exclamation mark (!), which is apparently known as an exclamation point in American English, has a number of other names. When it was first introduced by printers in the 15th century, it was known as a sign of admiration or exclamation<\/strong> or the note of admiration<\/strong> in English.<\/p>\n

In the early 20th century it was known as an ecphoneme<\/strong> [source<\/a>]. A related word is eroteme<\/strong>, which is another name for the question mark (?), and comes from the Ancient Greek \u1f10\u03c1\u03ce\u03c4\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1<\/em> (er\u1e53t\u0113ma – question), from \u03b5\u03c1\u03c9\u03c4\u03ce (erot\u00f3 – to ask) [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n

In 1950s American typesetting manuals it was referred to as a bang<\/strong>. Related punctuation marks are the interrobang<\/strong> (\u203d), a combination of an exclamation mark and question mark that was invented in 1962 by Martin K. Speckter, an American advertising executive [source<\/a>], and the gnaborretni<\/strong> (\u2e18), an inverted interrobang [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n

Printers might call it a screamer<\/strong>, gasper<\/strong>, slammer<\/strong> or startler<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

British hackers apparently call it, or called it, a shriek<\/strong> or pling<\/strong>, which is my favourite name for this punctuation mark.<\/p>\n

In Welsh the exclamation mark is known as a ebychnod<\/strong>, from ebychu<\/strong> (to exclaim) and nod<\/strong> (mark), or rhyfeddnod<\/strong>, from rhyfedd<\/strong> (strange, odd) and nod<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In Armenian the equivalent of the exclamation mark (see below) is known as a \u0532\u0561\u0581\u0561\u056f\u0561\u0576\u0579\u0561\u056f\u0561\u0576 \u0576\u0577\u0561\u0576 (Bats\u2019akanch\u2019akan nshan) or “exclamatory mark\/sign” or “screamer”.<\/p>\n

Here are some exclamation marks in other alphabets:<\/p>\n

\"Exclamation<\/p>\n

What is the exclamation mark called in other languages?<\/p>\n

Here’s a video I made last week about the word exclamation:<\/p>\n