Can't add ampersand to url I want to get

[Alles, Kris]

Hello,
  I'm trying to query a url with arguments (i.e.
http:/www.thissite.com?title=1&action=2).  I get errors saying that
action is not a recognized internal or external command.  I think this
is because wget uses the '&' character to make the process run in the
background.  I tried substituting %26 for the ampersand, but then my web
page doesn't correctly process the incoming url.
 
Is there a way to query urls with ampersands?
 
thanks,
 
kris alles