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The exclamation mark (Commonwealth English) or exclamation point (American English) is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume (shouting), and often marks the end of a sentence. Example: “Watch out!” Similarly, a bare exclamation mark (with nothing before or after) is often used in warning signs. The mark can also be used at the beginning of a word instead of at the end. For example, several computer languages use "!" for logical negation; e.g. "!A" means "the logical negation of A", also called "not A". There are many other specialized uses of this mark, such as in mathematics where it denotes the factorial operation. ==History== Graphically the exclamation mark is represented as a full stop point with a vertical line above. One theory of its origin is that it is derived from a Latin exclamation of joy (''io''). The modern graphical representation is believed to have been born in the Middle Ages. The Medieval copyists used to write at the end of a sentence the Latin word ''io'' to indicate joy. The word ''io'' meant ''hurray''. Along time, the ''i'' moved above the ''o'', and the ''o'' became smaller, becoming a point. The exclamation mark was first introduced into English printing in the 15th century to show emphasis, and was called the "sign of admiration or exclamation" or the "note of admiration" until the mid-17th century; admiration referred to its Latin sense of wonderment. The exclamation mark did not have its own dedicated key on standard manual typewriters before the 1970s.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Typewriter Museum )〕 Instead, one typed a period, backspaced, and typed an apostrophe.〔Truss (2004), p. 135.〕 In the 1950s, secretarial dictation and typesetting manuals in America referred to the mark as "bang," perhaps from comic books where the ! appeared in dialogue balloons to represent a gun being fired, although the nickname probably emerged from letterpress printing.〔(【引用サイトリンク】first=Allan )〕 This bang usage is behind the titles of the interrobang, an uncommon typographic character, and a shebang line, a feature of Unix computer systems. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「exclamation mark」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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