Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2022 October 10

= October 10 =

! precedes ? in japanese
Why the interrobang usually starts in exlamation mark rather than question mark in japanese language? Because in a first episode of kamen rider gaim the title "Transform! The Orange From the Sky!?" i cannot figure out that the use of "?!" is considered impolite in japanese language. I think in american usage interrobang usually starts with ? then !. Anyone who can this answer this problem? 2404:8000:1027:85F6:A930:8172:C7F6:2C4F (talk) 01:17, 10 October 2022 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure if Engrish generally follows much rules at all, to be honest... (Although apparently, grammar and syntax is intensely crammed in Japanese schools, leading to English sentences that are grammatically flawless, yet make no sense whatsoever...) 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 01:41, 10 October 2022 (UTC)
 * I don't know about general American usage, but my personal usage tends to be "!?". --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 13:57, 10 October 2022 (UTC)

Episode 1 Transform! The Orange From the Sky!? 変身！空からオレンジ!? What The Fuck!? why japanese double mark question and exlamation does the latter first and then the former behind? 2404:8000:1027:85F6:8436:BBAC:942B:3011 (talk) 02:48, 10 October 2022 (UTC)


 * The interrobang ‽ consists of a question mark superimposed on an exclamation mark. Neither one comes before or after the other. Most fonts do not include the interrobang. See our article Interrobang, which states that this unconventional punctuation mark is often represented by any of ?!, !?, ?!? or !?!. This is not specific for Japanese, and I don't think the different orders have significantly different meanings. --Lambiam 05:35, 10 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Now it occurs to me to wonder whether Spanish uses ‹¿¡…!?› and/or ‹¡¿…?!›, and if so whether it's permissible to break the nesting, ‹¿¡…?!›. —Tamfang (talk) 02:41, 12 October 2022 (UTC)
 * There is indeed an inverted interrobang, ⸘, meant to be used in various "Hispano-Romance" languages. (Or if there's a better term for the Romance languages on Hispanic soil. For Catalan, the usage is archaic, however.) 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 14:36, 15 October 2022 (UTC)


 * It may be worth looking at wikt:!? and wikt:?!. Both are defined as single characters in Unicode since Unicode 3.0 (1999), though strangely only !? seems to have an emoji on my Apple device. OP may be on to something; perhaps !? is indeed used more. My (admittedly speculative) hypothesis is that it may date back to the era of early video games or on-screen text generators for television, and where a combined character was provided (bearing in mind that rendering them separately as fullwidth characters was likely not acceptable) there might only be enough memory available for one combination, and for one reason or another, the ordering that got used stayed in use. Particularly in titling Kamen Rider episodes (as OP's sole example is), in that sort of media there tends to be a rigid obedience of nostalgic conventions, even if not many would really notice it. 69.174.144.79 (talk) 06:19, 10 October 2022 (UTC)
 * What do you mean by 'emoji'? Glyph? It seems that the only context in which !? and ?! is specifically distinguished is in chess, anyway. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 11:38, 10 October 2022 (UTC)

In my opinion !? and ?! is true in either way for the Japanese language. One more thing the interrobang usually tries to questioning someone angrily. correct me If i am wrong. 2404:8000:1027:85F6:DCF4:58B4:854A:FDDA (talk) 09:31, 10 October 2022 (UTC)


 * It can signal any of a number of things: surprise and disbelief, mock disbelief, doubtful hope, ...&thinsp;. Anger may or may not be an aspect of the emotional load. I doubt anyone has made a study of the prevalence of various distinguishable uses. --Lambiam 11:54, 10 October 2022 (UTC)


 * To me, the order matters. !? is more angry than confused, ?! the opposite. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:32, 11 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Then it is nice you can use ‽ for cases where your anger matches your confusion. --Lambiam 06:38, 11 October 2022 (UTC)

German sentence
Hello. Does the following sentence sound natural in German?

Leider bin ich bis Sonntag mit den Prüfungen sehr beschäftigt, aber nächste Woche telefoniere ich gerne mit Ihnen über Ihren Auftrag.

Thank you. 83.40.186.94 (talk) 18:14, 10 October 2022 (UTC)


 * That is perfect. --Wrongfilter (talk) 18:47, 10 October 2022 (UTC)