I'm getting annoyed about supergluous question marks?

[IdaGlossop]

Is it just me. Do people really not understand the difference between a statement and a question.

There are lots of posts with a question mark when they have written a statement? This week it has really begun to irritate me? You can't give an answer to a statement?

To manage my annoyance, I am thinking of putting a question mark at the end of statements myself, and a full stop at the end of statements? Because I am a pedant, this is my idea of irony?

Is it a good idea. Or am I wasting my time.

PS Superfluous!!

PS Superfluous!!

Damn, I wanted to say Supergluous? 😁

Is it because that's the way so many people speak nowadays? They turn nearly every sentence into a question by making the last word a bit higher. Makes me want to superglue them to their own arseholes.

I do it sometimes. I use it to indicate that this is what I think but I am open to correction.

Me too.

I think you are right?

Bastards. I can't bear to turn that into a question?

It is superficially irritating because it conjures the sound of the Aussie-originated rising inflection. But it is also quite functional in that it has emerged as a strategy for making a claim whilst simultaneously indicating that you are open to discussion and constructive contradiction of that claim.

In other words it is a useful shorthand for saying "X, but I am unsure of X and I would love to hear what you think about it."

Good point about functionality. It would be interesting to know if 'statement questions' are answered to the same extent as 'question questions'.

Is it just me. Do people really not understand the difference between a statement and a question.
Questions usually have a question mark?

Oops, I think maybe I do this?

It would be interesting to know if 'statement questions' are answered to the same extent as 'question questions'.

It irritates the hell out of me and I'm doing my best to stop myself but when I'm speaking with someone who does the inflection thing I tend to say yes in response to the non question 😡. When asked a proper question I'll give a proper answer.

I think people often use them in sentences where their voice might go up in a questioning sort of tone but when it's not technically a question. I agree it's incorrect and a bit annoying!

I do this when I'm open to persuasion. It's also how you can ask a question in French I know we're not talking about French usage.. I like it.

It's important to remember that thanks to social media, we now have a domain in which the informality that was previously only a feature of spoken language is now present in written language too. It is pretty unrealistic to imagine that a written chat environment won't develop conventions that would be out of place in more formal written contexts.

If you listen to spoken language in the pub or wherever it is often quite elliptical, suggestive, un-rule-bound. And that's ok. Because it is spoken language. Now we have similarly informal contexts for written chat. All good, providing you know how to switch when appropriate.

We need the laugh emoji!

Such an important point. John Sutherland, ex UCL, is very good on making the point that language conventions change and that texting, for example, has its own. Understanding which sub-language should properly be used when is part of language mastery and something schools should be teaching - and are teaching. It's frustrating when stick-in-the-mud types mutter about 'young people can't write because of texting'. Thanks to my DD, I have pushed aside my dis-ease with not using punctuation and now text her without punctuation and with one idea per message.