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! Exclamation point exclamation (mark), (ex)clam, excl, wow, hey, boing, bang, shout, yell, shriek, pling, factorial, ball-bat, smash, cuss, store, not (UNIX) (C), dammit (UNIX)

Deeply sadened there is not entry for this with "splosh dot", as that and "bang" are the ones everybody I've worked with used over past 3 decades, though mindful that may well be a local cultural thang from the UK.

As for ~ even sadder there is not entry for "swan hyphen".




"Pling" seems to be uniquely British, with usage sometimes documented as in the Commonwealth countries too.

Its actual origin seems to have been within Acorn Computers, and thus spread mostly to countries where Acorn computers were sold in any numbers, which notably does not include the USA.

On Acorn computers, application bundles are directories prefixed with a Pling, so the Paint application is called "!Paint", pronounced, "Pling Paint", for example.


It's also "bang" at my Midwestern university.


I have added "swan hyphen" to the page now.


Off topic, thank you for the wonderful website you run! It's a trove of information, and has saved me many, many times over the years!


Thank you, was and still is one of my favorite terms.




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