Your Letters
17:09 UK time, Friday, 18 April 2008
Oh look, letters neatly fall into three categories. This calls for some pithy category headings...
MARK OUR WORDS
Re the quest for a questamation mark: oh PM, tardiness is right - you're over 45 years late! The "Interrobang" (interrogatio: Latin for "a rhetorical question" + bang: printing slang for an exclamation mark) was thought up in 1962 by New York ad exec Martin Speckter. The glyph exists in a few digital typefaces. Here it is: ‽
Gareth Stranks, London
Why invent a "questamation mark" when we already have the perfectly good interrobang (as well as the irony mark)? See a popular wiki-based encyclopedia for more information.
Rob Foreman, London, UK
Dear MM, I cannot believe I will be the first to point out that there is already just such a punctuation mark as requested by PM -- the conflation of ! and ? is called an interrobang. Type ] in Wingdings 2 font and all will be revealed.
Regards,
Daniel Hayes, St Albans, UK
Sorry to be a pedant, but your new punctuation mark should more properly be called a "questclamation" mark, literally a "shouted question" mark. I've got my coat on already.
Leonard Klar, Chelmsford
How about > ? Or the alternative, when it's only a minor exclamation Stig, London, UK
Re: the "questamation mark". There is always the "Beau Germe" mark (Colon Dash Zero) although the Anglo-Saxon pronunciation usually stops it getting used.
Periwinkle Throbgusset, Cwm Deri, Wales
IF ONLY, IF ONLY...
If only the Caption Competition was back... I might say: Dame Helen was delighted - she knows what they say about men with big feet.
Hannah, London
No captions of course, but I might be tempted to say "Way hay for Noddy"
Candace, New Jersey, US
It's a good thing that the Caption Competition isn't back as I'd probably submit something in the Big Ears/Prince Charles genre, and that would be treason.
The Bob, Glasgow
If only the Caption Competition was back, I might suggest "Primary Suspect", along with hundreds of other people, probably...
Keith, Whitstable, UK
If only the caption competition was back you'd be swamped with variations on "Noddy Hold-her".
Ed, Clacton, UK
WARNING, INTERNET CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS
Am I the only person to carefully avoid any talk of this week's Apprentice, (planning to watch it on demand) only to have the result given to me by the DMQ? Please, warn me now; do you have plans to give away other programme spoilers in future DMQs?
Patrick, Walsall, UK
Ditto Chick, Gatwick; Jennifer, Germany; Simon (not that one), London; Steve Bowman, Leeds, UK; James, Exeter, England.
The 
