In a stunning, and visually beautiful post, The Conscious Style Guide explores the AI view of the world. For instance, the prompt “Indian man” generated mostly pictures of old men with beards.

If you are interested in honest, inclusive communication, this newsletter introduces you to new ideas, new players, and asks you to question what you are assuming with every word you say.

In the November, issue, an eye catching article examines how

How AI reduces the world to stereotypes

“Rest of World analyzed 3,000 AI images to see how image generators visualize different countries and cultures.”

My first question was who is Rest of World? You can find them at https://restofworld.org/about/

Rest of World

Mission

Rest of World is a nonprofit publication that challenges expectations about whose experiences with technology matter. We connect the dots across a rapidly evolving digital world, through on-the-ground reporting in places typically overlooked and underestimated.

About our name

Why “Rest of World”? It’s a corporate catchall term used in the West to designate “everyone else.” Companies use it to lump together people and markets outside wealthy Western countries. We like the term because it encapsulates the problems we fight head-on: a casual disregard for billions of people, and a Western-centric worldview that leaves an unthinkable number of insights, opportunities, and nuances out of the global conversation.

We aren’t generating images, but we are using AI to help capture the spoken word—so we can focus on capturing nuance, idioms, colloquialisms—the words that make the spoken word different from the written word. It’s disturbing to think that AI bias could be affecting the work we do.

Our transcriptionists take special care to listen carefully to what is said, and make sure that context and nuance are preserved. We’ve got to remain vigilant to watch for bias in the transcripts we work on.

Millennials might not have been the first generation to feel the need to express surprise and disbelief in writing by smashing a group of question and exclamation marks together. Had you ever heard about interrobangs before? Did you know they are as old as 61 years old? Read this article from the Grammarly blog to find out everything you need to know about this non standard punctuation mark and how to use it.

What Is an Interrobang?! Definition and Examples

Most of the punctuation marks we know and love have been around for centuries, but can you believe that’s not the case for the wild and whimsical interrobang‽

Invented in 1962, this punctuation mark combines the exclamation mark and the question mark into one fancy doodad. Although it’s lesser known than most punctuation types and not often used, it’s a fun trick you can use to convey a question in an excited and energized way.

But what does the interrobang do? And how can you use it to spice up your writing? Let’s interrogate the interrobang so you can give your writing a little extra flair.

What is an interrobang?

An interrobang [in-TER-eh-bang] is a nonstandard double punctuation mark that combines the functions and glyphs of an exclamation mark (!) and a question mark (?) into one form: ‽. It indicates a sentence that is both a question and an exclamation, expressing surprise or disbelief.

The interrobang gets its name from the punctuation it’s intended to combine—interro is from “interrogation point,” the technical term for question mark, and bang is printers slang for the exclamation mark.

Superimposing both punctuation marks into a single glyph signifies an exclamatory sentence that is a question. This means the interrobang is best used to end a rhetorical question or conclude a simultaneous exclamation and question. It is sometimes called an “interabang” or “exclamation question mark.”

The word interrobang was coined by advertising executive Martin K. Speckter. Frustrated with copywriters’ tendency to combine exclamation and question marks to yield a surprised or rhetorical question, he offered a solution to replace this “ugly, jury-rigged construction,” and the interrobang was born.

You’ve likely come across the improvised punctuation before, written simply as a back-to-back exclamation mark and question mark, like this: !? or ?!

Still, this is the only way to employ the interrobang in everyday writing, as there is no dedicated key for the glyph on standard keyboards. As such, most writers continue to communicate the sentiment the interrobang expresses by using !? or ?! concurrently, just as they did before the mark’s official invention.

When to use an interrobang

Since the interrobang has such a quirky punctuation personality, it can be challenging to know when it’s appropriate to use one. However, if you enjoy using unique and expressive punctuation, this offbeat character has obvious appeal.

The interrobang will always come at the end of a sentence. Most often, interrobangs are used to convey a sense of surprise or disbelief or a combination of both in the form of a question. It adds energy to a question, resulting in either shocked incredulity (“She said what to Martin‽”) or an excited inquiry (“They won a trip to Spain from a radio show‽”).

Still uncertain about when it’s appropriate to use the interrobang? Here are three cases when it makes sense to use this combined character:

1 Rhetorical questions with emphasis: Interrobangs are ideal when you’re asking a rhetorical question that is meant to be particularly emphatic. They can add a visual cue to communicate extra intensity, as in “What were you thinking‽”

2 Combining a question and an exclamation: If a statement is both a question and an exclamation, the interrobang can represent this dual nature, as in “You published a book‽”

3 Expressing strong emotion: Interrobangs are especially appropriate when you want to convey a heightened sense of emotion or astonishment, as in “He really said that about his own child‽”

Although the interrobang is certainly a fun and expressive mark of punctuation, it’s crucial to note that it is not a standardized form, and some style guides and formal scenarios may discourage its use. If you decide to use one, make sure you’re aware of your audience and that it’s apt for the context.

How to include an interrobang

Since the interrobang is not included on standard keyboards, learning how to type one takes a little extra effort. Here are several ways to write or type an interrobang:

Write an interrobang: If you are putting pen to paper, writing an interrobang is easy. First, write a traditional question mark at the end of your sentence. Then, draw a straight line through it to signify the exclamation mark. No second period or point is needed!

Type an interrobang with Google Docs: Under the “Insert” menu select “Special characters” and then search for “interrobang: in the search bar. Click the glyph to insert in your text.

Type an interrobang with Unicode: If you use Unicode (the text-encoding standard where each letter, digit, or symbol is assigned a numeric value), you can easily type interrobangs. Simply use the code U+203D. This can be achieved by pressing the Alt key, then pressing the plus sign (+) key, and typing the code U+203D. Release the Alt key, and your interrobang should appear.

Typean interrobang with the Character Palette in macOS: You can readily find an interrobang symbol on the Character Palette, which is included on macOS. To do so, press the Ctrl key, then press Cmd, and then press the space bar. This will open up a menu with various emojis and symbols. Type “interrobang” into the search box, select the interrobang symbol, and this will add it to your document.

Typing an interrobang without any key code: If you are unable to employ a key code through Unicode or through the macOS Character Palette, you can still include an interrobang by copying and pasting it from another document or web page. Simply highlight the glyph, right-click it, copy it, and then right-click again in your document to paste it.

Interrobang examples

To make things even clearer for you, let’s take a look at several sentence examples where interrobangs are used correctly.

Henry’s leaving the company after only two months‽

What do you mean you lost the keys to my apartment‽

Why on earth would Wendy do that‽

You’re telling me you’ve never seen an episode of Seinfeld‽

How could you forget our anniversary‽

Dad ate the last slice of pizza after I told him I wanted it‽

You’re really wearing that to the party‽

Millennials might not have been the first generation to feel the need to express surprise and disbelief in writing by smashing a group of question and exclamation marks together. Had you ever heard about interrobangs before? Did you know they are as old as 61 years old? Read this article from the Grammarly blog to find out everything you need to know about this non standard punctuation mark and how to use it.

What Is an Interrobang?! Definition and Examples

Most of the punctuation marks we know and love have been around for centuries, but can you believe that’s not the case for the wild and whimsical interrobang‽

Invented in 1962, this punctuation mark combines the exclamation mark and the question mark into one fancy doodad. Although it’s lesser known than most punctuation types and not often used, it’s a fun trick you can use to convey a question in an excited and energized way.

But what does the interrobang do? And how can you use it to spice up your writing? Let’s interrogate the interrobang so you can give your writing a little extra flair.

What is an interrobang?

An interrobang [in-TER-eh-bang] is a nonstandard double punctuation mark that combines the functions and glyphs of an exclamation mark (!) and a question mark (?) into one form: ‽. It indicates a sentence that is both a question and an exclamation, expressing surprise or disbelief.

The interrobang gets its name from the punctuation it’s intended to combine—interro is from “interrogation point,” the technical term for question mark, and bang is printers slang for the exclamation mark.

Superimposing both punctuation marks into a single glyph signifies an exclamatory sentence that is a question. This means the interrobang is best used to end a rhetorical question or conclude a simultaneous exclamation and question. It is sometimes called an “interabang” or “exclamation question mark.”

The word interrobang was coined by advertising executive Martin K. Speckter. Frustrated with copywriters’ tendency to combine exclamation and question marks to yield a surprised or rhetorical question, he offered a solution to replace this “ugly, jury-rigged construction,” and the interrobang was born.

You’ve likely come across the improvised punctuation before, written simply as a back-to-back exclamation mark and question mark, like this: !? or ?!

Still, this is the only way to employ the interrobang in everyday writing, as there is no dedicated key for the glyph on standard keyboards. As such, most writers continue to communicate the sentiment the interrobang expresses by using !? or ?! concurrently, just as they did before the mark’s official invention.

When to use an interrobang

Since the interrobang has such a quirky punctuation personality, it can be challenging to know when it’s appropriate to use one. However, if you enjoy using unique and expressive punctuation, this offbeat character has obvious appeal.

The interrobang will always come at the end of a sentence. Most often, interrobangs are used to convey a sense of surprise or disbelief or a combination of both in the form of a question. It adds energy to a question, resulting in either shocked incredulity (“She said what to Martin‽”) or an excited inquiry (“They won a trip to Spain from a radio show‽”).

Still uncertain about when it’s appropriate to use the interrobang? Here are three cases when it makes sense to use this combined character:

1 Rhetorical questions with emphasis: Interrobangs are ideal when you’re asking a rhetorical question that is meant to be particularly emphatic. They can add a visual cue to communicate extra intensity, as in “What were you thinking‽”

2 Combining a question and an exclamation: If a statement is both a question and an exclamation, the interrobang can represent this dual nature, as in “You published a book‽”

3 Expressing strong emotion: Interrobangs are especially appropriate when you want to convey a heightened sense of emotion or astonishment, as in “He really said that about his own child‽”

Although the interrobang is certainly a fun and expressive mark of punctuation, it’s crucial to note that it is not a standardized form, and some style guides and formal scenarios may discourage its use. If you decide to use one, make sure you’re aware of your audience and that it’s apt for the context.

How to include an interrobang

Since the interrobang is not included on standard keyboards, learning how to type one takes a little extra effort. Here are several ways to write or type an interrobang:

Write an interrobang: If you are putting pen to paper, writing an interrobang is easy. First, write a traditional question mark at the end of your sentence. Then, draw a straight line through it to signify the exclamation mark. No second period or point is needed!

Type an interrobang with Google Docs: Under the “Insert” menu select “Special characters” and then search for “interrobang: in the search bar. Click the glyph to insert in your text.

Type an interrobang with Unicode: If you use Unicode (the text-encoding standard where each letter, digit, or symbol is assigned a numeric value), you can easily type interrobangs. Simply use the code U+203D. This can be achieved by pressing the Alt key, then pressing the plus sign (+) key, and typing the code U+203D. Release the Alt key, and your interrobang should appear.

Typean interrobang with the Character Palette in macOS: You can readily find an interrobang symbol on the Character Palette, which is included on macOS. To do so, press the Ctrl key, then press Cmd, and then press the space bar. This will open up a menu with various emojis and symbols. Type “interrobang” into the search box, select the interrobang symbol, and this will add it to your document.

Typing an interrobang without any key code: If you are unable to employ a key code through Unicode or through the macOS Character Palette, you can still include an interrobang by copying and pasting it from another document or web page. Simply highlight the glyph, right-click it, copy it, and then right-click again in your document to paste it.

Interrobang examples

To make things even clearer for you, let’s take a look at several sentence examples where interrobangs are used correctly.

Henry’s leaving the company after only two months‽

What do you mean you lost the keys to my apartment‽

Why on earth would Wendy do that‽

You’re telling me you’ve never seen an episode of Seinfeld‽

How could you forget our anniversary‽

Dad ate the last slice of pizza after I told him I wanted it‽

You’re really wearing that to the party‽

Oxymoron, a Greek term combining the words for “sharp” and “foolish,” has been adopted in English to refer to inadvertently contradictory or incongruous mash-ups of terms such as “military intelligence” and “jumbo shrimp” — a class known as subjective oxymora (that latter word is the pedantic-looking plural) because they are not literally at odds with each other.

However, the original connotation is of an evocative paradox deliberately framed by a writer — an objective oxymoron. One of the most well-known examples is William Shakespeare’s line “Parting is such sweet sorrow,” from Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet exults in the bittersweet anguish generated by the lovers’ separation. Shakespeare provided a short list of literary oxymora in this earlier passage from the same speech:

“O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!”

The Bard employed oxymora on other occasions, including in Hamlet (“I must be cruel, only to be kind”), in Julius Caesar (“fearful bravery”), and in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (“A tedious brief scene . . . very tragical mirth”). Likewise, John Donne wrote of “beggarly riches,” Herman Melville of “a careful disorderliness,” John Milton of “darkness visible,” and Alexander Pope of a “bookful blockhead,” and Lord Tennyson ventured of his Lancelot that “faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.”

Classic authors do not have a monopoly on oxymora, though; contemporary coinages are often more than subjective punch lines like “responsible government.” Here are some other recent examples that might inspire you to convey original ideas in phrases that are more than the sum of their parts:

alone together: said, perhaps, of two people who share a physical space but are emotionally isolated from each other

cheerful pessimism: a description of a person who blithely notices and remarks on the dark cloud behind every silver lining

eloquent silence: a lack of response from someone that nevertheless clearly conveys that person’s attitude

hellish paradise: an environment designed to make inhabitants or visitors feel bliss but is, to the more perceptive among them, unnerving in its illusory promise

sad smile: a mild expression of superficial cheer that does not mask melancholy or sorrow

sublimely awful: a reference to something that is so bad, it arouses ironic delight

wise fool: a person of supposed mental weakness more shrewd than he or she seems at first

Oxymoron, a Greek term combining the words for “sharp” and “foolish,” has been adopted in English to refer to inadvertently contradictory or incongruous mash-ups of terms such as “military intelligence” and “jumbo shrimp” — a class known as subjective oxymora (that latter word is the pedantic-looking plural) because they are not literally at odds with each other.

However, the original connotation is of an evocative paradox deliberately framed by a writer — an objective oxymoron. One of the most well-known examples is William Shakespeare’s line “Parting is such sweet sorrow,” from Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet exults in the bittersweet anguish generated by the lovers’ separation. Shakespeare provided a short list of literary oxymora in this earlier passage from the same speech:

“O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!”

The Bard employed oxymora on other occasions, including in Hamlet (“I must be cruel, only to be kind”), in Julius Caesar (“fearful bravery”), and in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (“A tedious brief scene . . . very tragical mirth”). Likewise, John Donne wrote of “beggarly riches,” Herman Melville of “a careful disorderliness,” John Milton of “darkness visible,” and Alexander Pope of a “bookful blockhead,” and Lord Tennyson ventured of his Lancelot that “faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.”

Classic authors do not have a monopoly on oxymora, though; contemporary coinages are often more than subjective punch lines like “responsible government.” Here are some other recent examples that might inspire you to convey original ideas in phrases that are more than the sum of their parts:

alone together: said, perhaps, of two people who share a physical space but are emotionally isolated from each other

cheerful pessimism: a description of a person who blithely notices and remarks on the dark cloud behind every silver lining

eloquent silence: a lack of response from someone that nevertheless clearly conveys that person’s attitude

hellish paradise: an environment designed to make inhabitants or visitors feel bliss but is, to the more perceptive among them, unnerving in its illusory promise

sad smile: a mild expression of superficial cheer that does not mask melancholy or sorrow

sublimely awful: a reference to something that is so bad, it arouses ironic delight

wise fool: a person of supposed mental weakness more shrewd than he or she seems at first