Interrobang
99% Invisible10 Juli 2018

Interrobang

In the spring of 1962, an ad man named Martin Speckter was thinking about advertising when he realized something: many ads asked questions, but not just any questions -- excited and exclamatory questions -- a trend not unique to his time. Got milk?! Where's the beef?! Can you hear me now?! So he asked himself: could there be a mark that made it clear (visually on a page) that something is both a question and an exclamation?!

Speckter was also the editor of the typography magazine *TYPEtalks, *so in March of 1962, in an article for the magazine titled “Making a New Point, Or How About That…”, Speckter proposed the first new mark of English language punctuation in 300 years: the interrobang.

Plus, we revisit the story of another special character, the octothorpe.

Interrobang

Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early.

Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Avsnitt(780)

Divining Provenance

Divining Provenance

Priceless cultural artifacts have been plundered and sold for hundreds of years. You can find these relics in museums and in private collections. In recent years, with the advent of online marketplace...

1 Juni 202232min

Inheriting Froebel's Gifts

Inheriting Froebel's Gifts

In the late 1700s, a young man named Friedrich Froebel was on track to become an architect when a friend convinced him to pursue a path toward education instead. And in changing course, Froebel arguab...

24 Maj 202232min

The Missing Middle

The Missing Middle

Downtown Toronto has a dense core of tall, glassy buildings along the waterfront of Lake Ontario. Outside of that, lots short single family homes sprawl out in every direction. Residents looking for s...

18 Maj 202237min

Train Set

Train Set

The greatest mode of transportation is the funicular, which is a special kind of train pulled by a cable that runs up steep slopes. But trains are great even when they're not going up treacherous terr...

10 Maj 202232min

Roman Mars on Blank Check with Griffin and David

Roman Mars on Blank Check with Griffin and David

Bonus episode: Roman Mars on Blank Check with Griffin and David talking about The Quick and The Dead (Sam Raimi, 1995)Roman note: I LOVE this show!  Many of us on the 99pi staff are huge fans and foll...

6 Maj 20222h 17min

Pandemic Tracking and the Future of Data

Pandemic Tracking and the Future of Data

Data is the lifeblood of public health, and has been since the beginning of the field. But essential data gathering for the COVID pandemic was hindered by a couple of of underlying weakness in the US ...

4 Maj 202258min

It’s a Small Aisle After All

It’s a Small Aisle After All

If you’ve ever been to a supermarket in the US, you’ve probably seen an ethnic food aisle. Maybe it was called the "international aisle," or "world foods," but it was the same idea. This is the “It’s ...

26 Apr 202236min

Atlas Obscura

Atlas Obscura

Standing on Beechey island, a peninsula off Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic, are four lonely graves: three members of an ill-fated expedition to the Northwest Passage, and one of the men who went ...

20 Apr 202245min

Populärt inom Business & ekonomi

framgangspodden
varvet
badfluence
rss-jossan-nina
rss-borsens-finest
rss-svart-marknad
uppgang-och-fall
avanzapodden
svd-tech-brief
lastbilspodden
rss-dagen-med-di
fill-or-kill
borsmorgon
rss-inga-dumma-fragor-om-pengar
bathina-en-podcast
rss-kort-lang-analyspodden-fran-di
kapitalet-en-podd-om-ekonomi
rss-den-nya-ekonomin
rss-wallnor-pm
affarsvarlden