{"id":12673,"date":"2020-01-30T06:39:10","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T11:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/?p=12673"},"modified":"2020-01-31T16:36:14","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T21:36:14","slug":"why-does-question-mark-shape-this-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/2020\/01\/30\/why-does-question-mark-shape-this-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Why does question mark shape this way?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"546\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200130_0521182.jpg\" alt=\"Why does question mark shape this way?\" class=\"wp-image-12663\" srcset=\"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200130_0521182.jpg 546w, https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20200130_0521182-300x251.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 546px) 100vw, 546px\" \/><figcaption>Why does question mark shape this way?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>No one knows! There are a few different theories, but probably the most legitimate one is that it is a stylistic variation of a middle ages mark designed to show interrogative annunciation. That mark was a dot next to a lightning-bolt-shaped line (to see the image check out <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/OriginalQuestionMark\">bit.ly\/OriginalQuestionMark<\/a>). This potentially morphed into today&#8217;s question mark. Another popular theory online is that the question mark comes from the Latin word for Question, &#8220;quaestio&#8221;. This would be abbreviated &#8220;qo&#8221; and the q eventually migrated over the o creating the modern &#8220;?&#8221;. I am unable to find any primary or high quality secondary sources that back this theory, however. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No one knows! There are a few different theories, but probably the most legitimate one is that it is a stylistic variation of a middle ages mark designed to show interrogative annunciation. That mark was a dot next to a lightning-bolt-shaped line (to see the image check out bit.ly\/OriginalQuestionMark). This potentially morphed into today&#8217;s question &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/2020\/01\/30\/why-does-question-mark-shape-this-way\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Why does question mark shape this way?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12673"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12707,"href":"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12673\/revisions\/12707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.bc.edu\/answerwall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}