escaping exclamation in double quoted string

[John Tromp]

Configuration Information [Automatically generated, do not change]:
Machine: sparc
OS: solaris2.7
Compiler: gcc
Compilation CFLAGS:  -DPROGRAM='bash' -DCONF_HOSTTYPE='sparc' 
-DCONF_OSTYPE='solaris2.7' -DCONF_MACHTYPE='sparc-sun-solaris2.7' 
-DCONF_VENDOR='sun' -DSHELL -DHAVE_CONFIG_H  -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE 
-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGEFILE64_SOURCE -I.  -I. -I./include -I./lib 
-I/usr/local/products/bash/include -g -O2
uname output: SunOS topi 5.10 Generic_118833-36 sun4u sparc SUNW,Sun-Fire
Machine Type: sparc-sun-solaris2.7

Bash Version: 2.05
Patch Level: 0
Release Status: release

Description:
        echo "hi\!" still shows the backslash

Repeat-By:
        echo "hi\!

Fix:
        can be avoided by using single quoted strings