OC Why did it become a normal thing for people to end statements with a question mark when they correct someone? Is it a TikTok trend that blew up?

This is something I first noticed about a year ago, give or take. Like, I'll say "the sky is purple" and someone will respond with "it's blue?" Why do people do that?

It's such a strange thing for me, because I'm used to question marks being used for questions, not statements. It feels like at some point, I accidentally fell into an alternate dimension where this is considered a normal use of punctuation.

I know English is a continually-evolving language, so things like this shouldn't be unexpected. Even still, this development feels bizarre to me.

BlondieBuff,

It's trying to simulate tone over text. For situations like your example, the implied question is something like "why do you not know this?" Or "what are you talking about?"

Assume the person is giving you a quizzical facial expression on the other side of the screen, like they're baffled by what you've said.

Poob,

There’s a few situations that come up immediately to me for why you would end a sentence with a question mark. Let’s use your “the sky is purple” for example.

The first is if you made a very obvious mistake. The answerer is actually asking “it’s blue, how do you not know that?”

Another is when you think there’s more to their question and it has some further meaning. The answerer is asking “it’s blue, but you know that. Why are you saying it’s purple?”

A final one is when the answerer isn’t sure of their own answer. The answer is asking "is the correct answer blue?’

PlzGivHugs,

At least from the example you gave, it is a question more than a statement. They're not correcting you so much as questioning your answer and offering what they think it really is. Basically, skipping the filler in asking "Are you sure its purple, not blue?"

mrbigmouth502,
mrbigmouth502 avatar

I see your logic. I still wonder how this became popular though. Is it just one of those things people have been doing for a long time that I didn't notice, and then one day I noticed it and I started seeing it everywhere?

PositiveNoise,
PositiveNoise avatar

I think it's just typical evolution of language, which happens pretty rapidly, since each generation likes to distance themselves a bit from their parent's generation. It saves a bit of typing, and since typing is such a common activity, it makes sense, just like using 'u' instead of 'you'.

mrbigmouth502,
mrbigmouth502 avatar

I guess I'm getting old. I do turn 30 later this year. :p

PlzGivHugs,

I think its always been around. It might be more common to see it without further qualification (IE, "It's blue, isn't it?"), possibly because of the popularity of short-form content, but I don't think its a new thing.

mrbigmouth502,
mrbigmouth502 avatar

Maybe it is short-form content that's popularized it. I don't use TikTok, and I don't watch a lot of YouTube Shorts either.

On that note, don't you think it's funny how short videos used to be the norm on YouTube a long time ago? I kinda miss those days.

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