Many people on social media use Emojis. As they are used a lot, different kinds of emojis have been created. One of the most used emojis is the question mark emoji. Although it is a question mark, some people may ask what does the question mark emoji mean. For those who ask what does the question mark emoji mean, we can say that people use it when they don’t understand something or when there is something they want to ask. In these cases, they can use the question mark symbol as well as the question mark emoji.
The History Of Punctuation Marks
The question mark is one of the most used punctuation marks. Punctuation marks have a long history. Before we talk about history, think that how it would be hard to write something without punctuation marks. What if they didn’t exist? Could we read the written texts correctly? Could we read the texts fast? We don’t think so.
There Were No Punctuation Marks At First
Some people may realize that sometimes it may be hard to read something that is written on social media as some users don’t use punctuation marks in their messages. Sometimes we even need to read the sentence from the beginning again. As we know how punctuation marks are important while writing, let’s take a look at the history of them.
As you may guess, there were no punctuation marks in the old times. Writers and other people wrote their texts without them. The history of the punctuation marks goes to the Greeks. It was so hard, and it took much time to read books in the libraries at that times. The reader had to understand where the sentence ends and where the new sentence starts. However, it wasn’t regarded as a problem. Because the verbal language was more important than the written language in Roman and Greek democracies. But, it was essential to write those written papers and memorize them well before making a speech in front of the public. So the first punctuation marks including full stop and comma were suggested to be used.
Spreading Of Christianity
Time passed and Christianity started to be spread. While it was spread, punctuation marks were considered more. Christian writers especially used them to save the meanings of their articles. In this way, using punctuation marks started to be common. Then, the printing press was invented. Usage of punctuation marks was more common with the invention of it. Most of the punctuation marks that we know today including full stop, comma, and the question mark started to be used at that times.
While technology improved, computers were invented and the popularity of writing increased. Apart from these punctuation marks, some new characters that were called emojis were added. Today emojis may be used instead of punctuation marks while writing on social media platforms. Some of them are preferred much by people. For example, the question mark emoji is so popular. Some people may even think it is different and they may ask what does the question mark emoji mean. The meaning of the question mark emoji is same as the meaning of the question mark. That means the question mark emoji can be used in all places where the question mark is used.
The Origin Of The Question Mark
The origin of the question mark is thought to come from the first letter of the Latin word “quaestio” that is the abbreviation of “question”. However, it is a hypothesis. Another thought is that the question mark was needed in the beginning and ending sentences in Spanish.
As it is commonly known, the question mark emoji is used when someone wants to ask a question. When there is something he doesn’t understand, he can use this emoji at the end of his question.
Approval Of An Expression
Sometimes, the question mark emoji can be used to approve a sentence. For example, people can write interesting or unexpected things by the person and they may want to ask what he means. “Do you mean this?” is just an example.
The Symbol Of Unknown
The question mark emoji is also the symbol of unknown. So it can be used to express anyone that is unknown. Nowadays, we see many people who share their photos and stories on Instagram. There has been much improvement in Instagram stories so that people can add many things including date, emojis, numbers, texts and more. The question mark emoji is one of those emojis that can be added to a story. The person who uploads the story can insert this emoji anywhere in his story. He can cover someone he doesn’t want to display; he can cover any object or any place that he doesn’t want to show. If there is something that the user wants to take attention, he can add the question mark emoji on it. The usage of this emoji may depend on the imagination of the user who wants to use it. Those who ask what does the question mark emoji mean can use this emoji in their Instagram stories for different purposes.
Having Fun
As the meaning of the question mark emoji is not different from its original, it can be used to enrich the message. The message including the user’s question will look more attractive and beautiful with the question mark emoji. Some people, especially girls like to decorate things. They want to use colorful and lovely emojis very much. So they may prefer to use the question mark emoji instead of the question mark itself. In this way, her question will look more beautiful. When it is asked what does the question mark emoji mean, it may be said that girls like to use this emoji for fun.
Giving Information
The question mark emoji is sometimes used to give information about a particular issue. We can see some social media accounts and also tv shows that are prepared to give their audience some information about different topics. First, a question is determined and the question mark emoji can be used with this question to get people’s attract and then the question is answered. The question may start with “Did you know?” and then the information can be given. For example; Did you know that the question mark is used at the end of the questions? Another example; What does the question mark emoji mean? It is used when the person wants to give some information about the specified subject.
Sometimes, famous people or ordinary users want to take the ideas of their followers about any issue on social media. So they post a question. This question may be about anything. If it is a woman and has a new hairstyle, she may ask what they think about her new hairstyle. She may want to take the ideas of her followers if she wants to dye her hair. The question may be about his or her character; What do you think about me? The question may be about a movie; Did you like Titanic? He may even ask what does the question mark emoji mean? Answers will vary as everybody has a different point of view. When they ask their questions to take the ideas of their followers, they can use the question mark emoji. In this way, the question will look more exciting and people will want to reply to it.