Question marks at the end of statements?

Posted by Visible_String_3775@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 43 comments

Of course, it is quintessentially British to find a peeve in something that isn't actually important. The absolute number one thing that boils my piss is when people ask a question by putting a question mark at the end of a statement in a written format. E.g. "it doesn't work?" "I can't find xyz?" "I don't understand?" "I'm getting an error?" To me, it feels like you are so entitled and lazy that you don't even have the manners (or aren't willing to spend the energy on proper manners) to turn your expression of a problem into a question. How does the rest of the community feel about this?

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43 Comments

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kifflet@reddit

I find it super annoying.

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ticaf95085@reddit

I’m not sure where you are? Means, where are you?

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Psychological_Lab_52@reddit

Then just say "where are you?". Not exactly rocket science is it...God, people are stupid these days

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gettingmythirdwind@reddit

Damn this thread is painful to read.

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ChinnyReckoning@reddit

I'm Ron Burgundy?

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Visible_String_3775@reddit (OP)

You guys are killing me.

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banglaonline@reddit

We are killing you?

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acceberbex@reddit

I'm ok with it - I think I do it at work sometimes like "I've just tried to change this and it won't let me?" (so can someone let me know what I'm doing wrongly/do I have the rights to change this?). Used more as a wtf? huh? type thing

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TCTuggersTops@reddit

I'd say the phrase "boils my piss" is much worse?

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Reasonable-While1212@reddit

Noo. I like that one.

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AverageCheap4990@reddit

In my head it reads like a Californian teenager. Like, this is so annoying? You know? Seriously?

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Reasonable-While1212@reddit

That do do that too. Ya know.

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Reasonable-While1212@reddit

High Rise Terminals? Don’t go to fucken Aus, eh? It’s infested?

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akbar147@reddit

Suck a ball

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guesysis@reddit

The grammar police are out?

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NealR2000@reddit

There is a tendency for Brits to overuse the exclamation point after a sentence or word.

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KollyKibber39@reddit

I'll admit, I use it. Never thought about it much but I suppose it's a shorthand method of not asking an obvious question. For example "I don't understand?" could be taken to read "I don't understand, please explain it to me." Never thought about it being annoying, but frankly I'm not going to stop!

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Visible_String_3775@reddit (OP)

Similarly though, the exchange could be: "I don't understand?" "And?.. are you trying to ask me to elaborate? Do you want more time? Do you want me to hold you? You're an adult; use your words" Tedious questions (or rather statements with an inflection) deserve tedious responses!

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hattorihanzo5@reddit

Are you on the spectrum?

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AstronautFluffy8710@reddit

I do it often at work because I think it softens the sentence, e.g I think this is wrong vs I think this is wrong?

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BreqsCousin@reddit

I agree, it's perfectly reasonable communication. The question mark adds the obvious "can you help/explain/check this?" or to the statement.

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RiriTomoron@reddit

I find it irritating, but then I remind myself language is a living thing and not my personal jurisdiction to police. Then I sigh and delete whatever comment I was going to post berating someone else's poor grammar.

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Low-Total9121@reddit

It's not right grammatically of course but it doesn't 'boil my piss'

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scamp6904@reddit

Not really important, but I think it infers that the author is actually unsure that their statement is correct - ie it’s not a statement, more a suggestion?

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Ok-Border-5351@reddit

FFS, IT 'IMPLIES'. IT DOESN'T 'INFER'. IT'S NOT HARD

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terryjuicelawson@reddit

This is the beauty of English really, often we don't need to construct whole sentences or explain every element we are trying to convey, something very subtle can alter a statement quite clearly. "It doesn't work?" suggests this person is confused by this, maybe expected it to work, wants more help with it quickly. A little passive aggressive perhaps, so people need to be careful.

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Visible_String_3775@reddit (OP)

I will admit that this epitomises the beauty and curiosity of our language dynamics. Your pov is reasonable; I respect it. I got the complete opposite reading. When I get a "it doesn't work?" in a work environment, I find it rude. It gives me "aren't you going to bag my shopping for me?" or "aren't you going to fix it?" energy. My happy middle place when not wanting to be aggressive or dry is: "I don't think it's working, could you check it for me please?"

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ShadyAidyX@reddit

I find it’s the opposite of entitlement. People that tend towards this form of semi question / semi statement have, correctly, determined that something does not work, but they are either afraid of looking aggressive (it doesn’t fucking work) or worried about being foolish (is it because I broke it and I’m too dumb to know how?), so they compromise with this form

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AstronautFluffy8710@reddit

I just commented elsewhere but yes this is exactly it! I use this at work all the time to soften my criticisms / feedback and make sure I don’t come across as aggressive. I used to work with a very sensitive coworker and had to be really aware of how I communicated.

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Iamamancalledrobert@reddit

This is a construction that conveys a clear meaning simply, in a manner there is no other easy way to do in writing. I would hesitate to call that grammatically incorrect: it seems like a useful evolution?

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Crochet-panther@reddit

I read a fascinating article about this recently, can’t find it now but the one linked covers some of it. Basically it’s to do with paralinguistics, which is the information we normally get from body language, tone of voice, gestures etc which is missing over text. The use of questions marks, exclamation marks, lack of full stops, emojis and other ‘lazy’ features of modern texting are actually really clever at giving a hint of what the intention behind the text was. https://www.alittlebithuman.com/gen-z-paralinguistics-and-language/

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cgknight1@reddit

I don't give a shit?

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jouxplan@reddit

I’m unclear on whether you do or don’t give a shit?

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cgknight1@reddit

Are you?

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tmstms@reddit

It's just an abbreviation of *This sentence is what I believe to be true but there is room for another opinion* ? In speech, you can convey this with your voice? But in writing, the question mark represents your tone of voice at the end of the sentence? In Spanish, they often end the sentence with *No?* and it's like the *Hein?* at the end in French or the *nicht wahr?* in German? I think this anyway?

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MilkaulyCulkin@reddit

It's not grammatically accurate, I agree. But when talking to a friend in real life, you just up the pitch at the end - that's all it represents.

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Jibajabb@reddit

Haha, i love this. I don’t think I’ve ever done it, but I might start. The “what the fuck?” Is basically implied.. that’s efficiency, progress right there

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rising_then_falling@reddit

Yes it's annoying although I think I only ever see it online. I never answer such questions, because I can't be arsed to work out what they actually want to know. "Leaves on my rose are yellow?" Could mean any over why are the leaves yellow? How do I prevent yellow leaves? Are yellow leaves normal? I'm not going to answer all three or guess what they want. Just write : "Are yellow leaves on a rose a bad sign and if so what can I do about it? If you can't be arsed to write a proper question I'm certainly not going to effort of a proper answer.

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NorthantsBlokeUK@reddit

Nice title!

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jordsta95@reddit

Don't see the issue with it really?

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FixSwords@reddit

Not really bothered?

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imminentmailing463@reddit

Sounds like you're just getting weirdly annoyed at what is just a grammatical representation something that is common in speech?

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