English Language & Usage Asked on February 7, 2021
Is there an alternative name for the question mark? For example, the exclamation point is often called a bang, the number symbol is called a pound sign or sharp symbol and the asterisk symbol is often called a star.
Is there such an alternative name for the question mark whether it be slang or otherwise?
Programmers have been known to call it ‘hook’.
Modern programmers have a lot more hooky things to cope with than just the old QUESTION MARK from antediluvian typewriter keyboards. For example, here are a bunch of characters whose names contain ‘question’, or ‘glottal’, or ‘hook’, or ‘interro’:
| Code | chr | GenCat | Script | Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U+003F | ? | GC=Po | SC=Common | QUESTION MARK |
| U+00BF | ¿ | GC=Po | SC=Common | INVERTED QUESTION MARK |
| U+01BE | ƾ | GC=Ll | SC=Latin | LATIN LETTER INVERTED GLOTTAL STOP WITH STROKE |
| U+0241 | Ɂ | GC=Lu | SC=Latin | LATIN CAPITAL LETTER GLOTTAL STOP |
| U+0242 | ɂ | GC=Ll | SC=Latin | LATIN SMALL LETTER GLOTTAL STOP |
| U+0294 | ʔ | GC=Lo | SC=Latin | LATIN LETTER GLOTTAL STOP |
| U+0296 | ʖ | GC=Ll | SC=Latin | LATIN LETTER INVERTED GLOTTAL STOP |
| U+02A1 | ʡ | GC=Ll | SC=Latin | LATIN LETTER GLOTTAL STOP WITH STROKE |
| U+02A2 | ʢ | GC=Ll | SC=Latin | LATIN LETTER REVERSED GLOTTAL STOP WITH STROKE |
| U+02C0 | ˀ | GC=Lm | SC=Common | MODIFIER LETTER GLOTTAL STOP |
| U+02C1 | ˁ | GC=Lm | SC=Common | MODIFIER LETTER REVERSED GLOTTAL STOP |
| U+02DE | ˞ | GC=Sk | SC=Common | MODIFIER LETTER RHOTIC HOOK |
| U+02E4 | ˤ | GC=Lm | SC=Latin | MODIFIER LETTER SMALL REVERSED GLOTTAL STOP |
| U+0309 | ◌̉ | GC=Mn | SC=Inherited | COMBINING HOOK ABOVE |
| U+0321 | ◌̡ | GC=Mn | SC=Inherited | COMBINING PALATALIZED HOOK BELOW |
| U+0322 | ◌̢ | GC=Mn | SC=Inherited | COMBINING RETROFLEX HOOK BELOW |
| U+061F | ؟ | GC=Po | SC=Common | ARABIC QUESTION MARK |
| U+097D | ॽ | GC=Lo | SC=Devanagari | DEVANAGARI LETTER GLOTTAL STOP |
| U+203D | ‽ | GC=Po | SC=Common | INTERROBANG |
| U+2047 | ⁇ | GC=Po | SC=Common | DOUBLE QUESTION MARK |
| U+2048 | ⁈ | GC=Po | SC=Common | QUESTION EXCLAMATION MARK |
| U+2049 | ⁉ | GC=Po | SC=Common | EXCLAMATION QUESTION MARK |
| U+2E18 | ⸘ | GC=Po | SC=Common | INVERTED INTERROBANG |
| U+2E2E | ⸮ | GC=Po | SC=Common | REVERSED QUESTION MARK |
| U+FE16 | ︖ | GC=Po | SC=Common | PRESENTATION FORM FOR VERTICAL QUESTION MARK |
| U+FE56 | ﹖ | GC=Po | SC=Common | SMALL QUESTION MARK |
| U+FF1F | ？ | GC=Po | SC=Common | FULLWIDTH QUESTION MARK |
Now that characters have official names that are so tediously long, like LATIN LETTER INVERTED GLOTTAL STOP WITH STROKE, it’s even more likely that short slangy forms will get used, although probably only locally.
Answered by tchrist on February 7, 2021
I've never heard of a question mark referred as anything else, with the possible exception of just question (dropping the mark)
The Jargon File has a nice description for bang and Computer keyboard key explanations references all the other marks that you talk about, but nothing for question mark.
Answered by GeoGriffin on February 7, 2021
I am a fan of Asterix (also Obelix), and what you should call * is asterisk. :)
It is called star because it looks like one, and also aster- is a Latin root for star, viz. astral, astronomy, astronaut, astrology etc. So, in essence it is just a formal name of the same sense of a term.
As for ?, you can call it interrogation point, interrogation mark, question point, query or eroteme Check this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question_mark
Hook should be more appropriate for the inverted '?'.
Answered by karthik on February 7, 2021
The answer is "query".
Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. query, n 2:
A question mark (?), used in writing to indicate a degree of doubt about the accuracy or validity of a following (occas., a preceding) word or statement. Also used in speech to express a written question mark of this kind. Cf. qy. int.
Answered by Colin Fine on February 7, 2021
Some symbols, such as question mark and comma, are read by simply stating their names, whereas other symbols, such as ampersand and apostrophe, have a separate reading ("and", and "prime", respectively, in this case).
Answered by Hexagon Tiling on February 7, 2021
erotem: noun; The symbol used in writing known as a question mark...?
This is my resource: http://english-grammar-mistakes.blogspot.com/2008/03/read-and-read.html
Although I searched the word online, I only found variations of it. I found no other sites to back up the claim that erotem is a synonym for question mark.
Answered by chad on February 7, 2021
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