Yeah, this has been a "feature" of VB for about 20(?) years now. The "!" is one of the Type Characters. It's all documented
here[
^]
I started out as a child. First, mastering drooling and sucking on a bottle. I soon discovered that these skills came to be very important later in life, and I put them to good use. Not "over the top" mind you, as I never drove home drunk. But, that damn bib catching my drool was getting in the way and turning the ladies away, so I had to abandon my strength and develop other skills.
So, I entered the world of geekdom. BASIC at first, then TMS9900 and Intel Assemblers, COBOL, C, C++, ...
... to be continued ...