Does this sound aggressive to you?

[queensonia]

I am on friendly terms with a neighbour. A couple of weeks ago her cat went missing and I promised to look out for him. I hadn’t heard from her for a while so I texted her: “Any news of Fluffy??” She replied. “Why do you always use so many question marks??????! Not sure if you’re aware but it comes across as aggressive”.
I apologised for accidentally offending her but WTF? Would anyone else find two question marks aggressive? I know Gen Z get in a twist about misuse of emojis but this woman is 60!

We’re all doomed!

My mum does it all the time - "did you have a good day yesterday????" "What made you decide to go there????" The question marks looks like she's sceptical or annoyed in some way. I don't like it.

The double space before your question mark triggers me. As a pedant I find it rude.

This makes no sense. Of course a space is needed before the ? otherwise it would read 'More than one?' as if it was a question which it isn't. The poster is saying 'More than one ? triggers me'. Autocorrect clearly changed triggers to upper case because it couldn't compute the ? being used in that way.

😂This really made me laugh!

I must admit that it sounds demanding to me too. I have family members who use double question marks if I've not answered a question. But if I received your particular message in that context, I'd just assume they implied concern I think. I certainly wouldn't think more than half a second about it (!!).

@Gazelda I ‘xx’ certain (girl) friends and male or female relatives but tend to leave it off male friends but I don’t really know why… I suppose that doesn’t help 😂 I don’t think it says I fancy you though

@CoffeeChocolateWine (I love all three!) either way, the punctuation gives me the heebie jeebies. (Which my phone autocorrected to herby Jeeves!)

WOW, I would be avoiding contacting her from now on.

Fluffy knew best

😬😆

My lovely Mum always puts two questions marks. She definitely isn’t trying to rush me for an answer, her SPaG isn’t the best so I think she’s just proud she uses any at all 😂.

Did she get back to you about the cat???????????????????????????

I find multiple question marks and exclamation marks aggressive and I’m nearly 60. I don’t think it’s an age issue.

My kids agree that ending a text with a full stop is angry or pass/agg.

They say there's an exception for me; if I don't use punctuation they will assume I'm very ill or have been abducted.

im old and i sent an email to my boss and i knew it was in caps but id written it and couldnt be bothered starting again...

i didnt know caps meant i was shouting....

he wasnt impressed

you only asked, was a bit aggressive of her to reply to rudely, unless you get on really well i guess

‘Is Fluffy still missing 😂😂😂’ see if she likes that any better.

Rude woman. You were only asking how her cat was. She should be more concerned about that not having a go, I wouldn’t think twice if someone used two question marks WTF.

Any news on her cat* long day sorry!

If someone cared about my lost cat enough to text me, I would think, aah that's nice that people are concerned. I wouldn't be counting the ruddy question marks.
She sounds Batshit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was told this last week by my teenage son and was taken aback. I am not going to stop punctuating correctly, simply because an 18 year old thinks I shouldn't. My 30 something DDs mock me for the fact that 'Mum is the only person who uses a semi colon in a text'.

I certainly do if the sentence requires one.

Just seen this, @LenaLamont !

My youngest has told me this. I had no idea, but I'm delighted you used a semi colon, as per my last post. 😂

I find multiple exclamation or question marks do come across as aggressive. Two wouldn’t bother me that much. So I get her point. But I’d not bring it up while someone was asking for news about my lost cat. Perhaps she’s a bit over sensitive if she’s upset about the cat?

Fuck her and her cat. You only asked.

😂😂😂😂

She was rude, and weirdly aggressive.

Well I accidentally put 2 kisses on a text to dd's teacher today. I did apologise.
My dd (16) always moans about my punctuation. As I have fat fingers, I often end up accidentally putting 2 full stops at the end of a sentence, apparently that is rude
I wouldn't read much into a couple of question marks, but, maybe that is where I am going wrong. I clearly shouldn't be allowed to text ever again 🤣.

Omg I sometimes use the double question mark for no particular reason other than to express that I haven't got a clue about something so ??. Note to self, stop with the double ?? incase the easily offended snowflakes think I'm being aggressive 🙄ffs. what's that all about??????????