Originally Posted by
JPaul
I never use the curly wurly, including text messages and official correspondence. Which is quite bizarre as I also eschew any of the puerile text speak. Though why I would do that in official correspondence is a mystery.
I will go to great lengths not to ask questions in fairly serious missives so as to avoid having to use them.
Though to be honest a reasonably worded question doesn't really require the curly wurly anyway, wouldn't you agree.
It is obvious when someone is asking a question, why would I rub their nose in it.
I share a little of your disdain for the question mark.
It can work for you, though. I use it very sparingly, to elicit a specific response. Almost conditioning an unsuspecting reader. Yes, that makes me sound like a tit but people often don't cotton on.
If I'm being srs bznz, then I'll dress actual queries as rhetoric and eschew the technically correct punctuation altogether as you do, as if there is only one possible answer (an answer I favour). I'll prod the reader by alluding to that answer a little later in the piece.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Either way, it puts my narrative in a slightly more authoritative light.
If I'm more confident about the query, I'll append a curly wurly to it so that the respondent reaffirms my belief in the reply, yet wonders if he or she has won a small battle by doing so.
This seemingly insignificant gesture often leads to greater concessions further down the line. A small part of the dance which I enjoy in its entirety.
The downside to all this is that I spend longer on words, which I don't charge for, than I do for the numbers
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