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Comment by doomrobo | Hacker News Reader

Off topic, but I think this is interesting:

> I don’t know what this is?

I think statements followed by a question mark is a distinctly Tumblr-y convention. It's generally used to express confusion. Kinda like raising one's pitch at the end of a statement to indicate uncertainty.

Pretty cool.

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I mean, I sometimes use a question mark to end statements when I text, and I'm not a Tumblr user?

Yeah, I've been doing this since before Tumblr existed.

I think there's even an extra layer of nuance here as well. At the risk of sounding prescriptivist, "I don't know what this is" is a statement, not a question; appending a question mark to it changes its tone, and seems to me at least to give it an implicit, almost sarcastic question; "I don't know what this is. Do you expect me to?". It puts the responsibility for the statement, the responsibility for the confusion, on the presenter of the information, not the receiver. It's less innocent than pure confusion; has a little more sneer to it, or at the very least, a little more snark.

There is a Netflix episode on the usage of “!” as part of their “explained” documentary series. You should definitely watch that one :)

It's called a 'rhetorical question', and that's any question that's asked by the writer/speaker that is not intended to have a response from the reader/listener.

That is not what "rhetorical question" means. I don't want to be the grammar nazi, go read on rhetoric as a speaking form.

"a question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer."

A question not expecting an answer is pretty close to correct particularly in a modern context.

It’s actually just a lame, noncommittal way to say something. People should just use the period and stand by what they say, imo.

It's a linguistic device that adds richness to the language?

okay, that's nice use of the question mark.

It's a way of communicating additional information beyond the words. It expresses a lack of certainty that would otherwise have been clear in real speech through tone of voice and other non-verbal channels.

Perhaps you feel people should never say things they are uncertain about? Or do you mean that people should not express that uncertainty?

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