October 20th, 2009

How to write like Raymond: Start a sentence with a question mark

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Another installment in the extremely sporadic series on how to write like Raymond.

I use the question mark as an emoticon to indicate befuddlement or confusion. (This is not to be confused with the use of an inverted question mark in Spanish.) Here’s an imaginary example:

To: Cakes and Cookies Discussion

Hi, I’m trying to bake a carrot cake, but I’m having trouble finding the right staple gun. Does anybody have any recommendations?

My reply might go something like this:

? What the heck are you planning to do with that staple gun?

Category
Old New Thing
Topics
Non-ComputerThe social skills of a thermonuclear device

Author

Raymond Chen

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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