Talk:Question mark

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[edit] Who wants to be a question mark

From the Who_wants_to_be_a_millionaire? article:

Both versions [of the show] omit the question mark from their official titles due to a superstition about question marks in film and TV productions.

Anyone know anything about thishhjhkjk

--68.198.144.239 03:31, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

hello i have come here to tell you about millionaire. It is a show sponsered to host poeple's thinking aloud. —64.136.26.227

[edit] query

In US English it is also called a query.

I've never heard the question mark called a query, and I've lived in the US my whole life. Tuf-Kat 23:56, Mar 17, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Inverted Question Mark

Considering Inverted Question redirects here... would anyone be able to add more information on it? If not how it developed and caught on, at least what the other “some languages” are in addition to Spanish.

--24.187.194.199 00:51, 12 July 2005 (UTC)

Galician also uses inverted question marks. I'm adding it now. --Pinzo 00:12, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Latin

It seems to me that "quaestio" does not mean "question" in Latin. There is "what" (quisnam, quidnam, qui quae que quod). There is "why" (cur, quamobrem, quare). There is "where" (quatenus/quatinus). There is "how" (quemadmodum).

I don't think it does mean question ... anyone verify?

[edit] Variations in foreign languages and in history

The article says the question mark is used in Chinese and Korean. Shouldn't Japanese also be on the list? PeepP 14:56, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

Any confirmation that semicolon is used in Greek to indicate a question? See Talk:semicolon. — DIV (123.3.26.56 15:51, 1 June 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Incorrect Image

The image of the inverted question mark, is merely mirrored horizontally, but it actually also should be mirrored vertically; it's incorrect the way it is --Allycat 20:56, 8 October 2005 (UTC)

It's still incorrect. 4 November 2005 (132.79.14.15)

Maybe we should take it out for now, until it's fixed Rmpfu89 21:49, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Hopefully it's better now Vadmium 05:03, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Redirect

This article says "?" redirects here, but on my computer, it redirects to the Main Page. SCHZMO ✍ 09:59, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

This is because ? is a character that should be escaped in urls, otherwise it's interpreted as the seperator between the actual url and the parameters.
Compare:
If you use the search box, ? should be automatically escaped. Shinobu 17:29, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cat-Butt

Am I the only person that was taught that the origin of the question mark was the shape of the cat's tail when it is curious? Scix 11:11, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

No. You have just taught all of us, as well! :) Noetica 11:17, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
hehe, I guess I just doscovered another piece of childhood mythology. Scix 13:16, 2 July 2006 (UTC)
AHA! According to Revision as of 17:40, 6 August 2006 -- I am NOT the only one:
Yet another theory is that a Latin monk owned a cat, and while he was writing, his cat was curious about his work. When cats are questioning or curious, the tail forms into a shape like the upper part of the question mark, and the dot comes from the cat's anus. The monk then used this symbol and it spread from there.
I wish I knew the source for this story, it would be worth at least a footnote. Scix 15:27, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

I was taught that it derived from the letter 'Q', from the fact that in Latin questions began with this letter. 81.157.125.245 (talk) 13:27, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Gelded question mark

It would be help if the article addressed the Gelded question mark used in IPA.

Ghosts&empties 16:54, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Question Mark as a Responsibility-Deflecting Rhetorical Device

It seems to me that some reference could be made to the recent and increasing use of the question mark in media (notably its extensive useage in news crawl headlines on the Fox News Channel, CNN and elsewhere) as a device to introduce controversial, irresponsible or fringe ideas in a rhetorical, sensationalist, and even propagandistic manner that deflects responsibility for the idea from the person or organization stating it. It also serves a simultaneous role in that it promotes uncertainty and can generate an illusion of lack of consensus in the service of an ideology or specific point of view. Finally, using this device concepts can be invented out of whole cloth — but be made to look like they're under serious consideration — while avoiding attributing the invention to any individual or organization.

For a satirical analysis of the practice, see the Sep 13 2006 episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Some of the crawl headlines Stewart uses as examples are:

  • "Saddam & 9/11?" (CNN)
  • "Ever Safe Again?" (CNN)
  • "Apocalypse Now?" (CNN)
  • "End Times?" (CNN)
  • "Have the Democrats Forgotten the Lessons of 9/11?" (Fox News Channel)
  • "Why is America More Concerned About Economy Then(sic) Terror? (Fox News Channel)
  • "Media Preaching Hate in the Mideast?" (Fox News Channel)
  • "Is the Liberal Media Helping to Fuel Terror?" (Fox News Channel)

AllanX 22:36, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hebrew

Is the mirrored question mark as used with the Arabic script also used when writing Hebrew?

Apparently not. -- Beland 09:35, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Regular expressions?

Perl regular expressions are not POSIX. They are different dialects. See: Regular_expression#Syntax. There are three main dialects, namely 'traditional', 'extended' (POSIX) and 'Perl' (PCRE). 193.59.72.35 22:06, 28 February 2007 (UTC) Kosma

has anyone noticed how much a question mark looks like an ear? could there be some reason for this? I guess this is just a coincidence, but still entertaining to think about. -duncan ???? Duncansylvester 20:02, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quote needed

The shortest letter ever written was "?" to which the reply was "!". This was between famous people, and has significance in some larger dialog. It's too bad I can't remember who these two were.

[edit] I wonder if a description of an indirect question should be included.

In the first paragraph of the article, the term 'indirect question' is used. I did not know what that was. I now think the Subject of this talk page section is an example. I had to leave Wiki to get some idea of what an indirect question is, the term searched in Wiki curiously being redirected to the page 'question', but not occurring in that article.

I see now that the 'External Links' section at the end of the 'question mark' article addresses 'indirect questions', but this is rather a tenuous connection when the question (about indirect questions) arises at the beginning of the article. Would an immediate link or footnote reference to the external link be possible/appropriate? I see the problem in belabouring a feature that doesn't use the wiki article's subject,the question mark, but still some immediate source where the term occurs would perhaps be best. Vainly perhaps, because I don't know, I think a number of people won't know what an indirect question is. (Is that last sentence another?). Questioning questions is quizzical.:-)

PS 'Question' article should have some mention of 'indirect question' as well?

Jauntymcd 14:10, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Eroteme? can we have a citation or more information about this? it's not listed on Merriam Webster… —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.195.69.13 (talk) 07:29, 27 April 2008 (UTC)