(interro)Bang

["Mark L. Levinson" <nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il>]

> It came up in a conversation about the etymology of 
> the term "bang" for an exclamation point.

Back when labor was cheap and quality was considered worth
the wait, the oldsters would proofread in teams of two.  One
would read the proof aloud, punctuation marks and all, and 
the other would check whether the recitation matched the
original.  

For efficientcy's sake, rather than saying "exclamation point" 
aloud, the proofreaders would simply say "bang".

Why "bang" rather than "pow" or "zap" or "oy"?  I don't
know.  

I also don't know what the proofreaders said when they
came to a passage like "'Bang! Bang!' went the fireworks."

--------------------------------------------------------------
Mark L. Levinson - Herzlia, Israel - nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il
--------------------------------------------------------------
"I've compiled a book from the Internet.  It's a book of
 quotations attributed to the wrong people." - Jerry Seinfeld
--------------------------------------------------------------


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