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Is there any connection to the SHAPE of the exclamation point and the question mark and the beliefs about masculinity/femininity?
The exclamation point's shape is masculine - phallic, strong, straight, stiff, & represents confident, surety, and authority .
The question mark shape is feminine - round, shapely, curved, a vessel, womb-like & represents in language weakness, the unknown, in need of help, uncertainty.
I have no idea what the origin of the these two marks are, but I would love to know if these concepts of masculine/feminine played a part in determining the actual shape of the mark.
The exact origins aren't known, so far as I can tell. One theory seems to be that ! developed from the Latin word IO and ? developed from the Latin word QVAESTIO, just as $ developed from the Spanish word Peseta. Whatever the origin, I see no reason to believe that the shapes were chosen for their perceived gender qualities. That theory seems entirely fanciful.
So let me tell another theory. This one is kinda reverse and assumes the shape of the question mark as being something literally universally accepted, the theory itself will clear up what 'literally universally' means.
They say that the ear is shaped like a question mark since you hear the answers of your questions with it!
Now one might argue: "Don't you do so through your eyes?"
-Well, it is what it is. I didn't come up with that!!
This is gonna go endlessly, but here it is-
Mythology: Giant Cyclops eats Odysseus's men. No one will bother to dispute that.
A well thought, well reasoned proposal is not mythology. That's all what Einstein and Freud ever did. Freud's ideas have never and will never advance beyond proposals, which makes them no better than the idea at top, which is very very good and incisive in my estimation.
The proposition that the shape of punctuation developed historically from notions of gender characteristics is either true or false (i.e., a "fact" 😉 ). There's no evidence that it's true, so far as I know. Wishing doesn't make it so and propagating the idea because it appeals to some aesthetic notion is the propagation of misinformation.
I really appreciate the input. It was just a passing curiosity I've always wondered. And I went to a liberal school and studied gender and ethnicity, so these kinds of strange connections pop up in my head a lot.
And there are so many factors that come into play with the evolution of language - I would hesitate to say anything can only be "true" or "false" - but that also goes with everything else in life.
Cheers!
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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