Is there an alternative, one-word name for the question mark?

Question

Is there an alternative name for the question mark? For example, the exclamation point is often called a bang, the number symbol is called a pound sign or sharp symbol and the asterisk symbol is often called a star.

Is there such an alternative name for the question mark whether it be slang or otherwise?

Answer 1

The answer is "query".

Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. query, n 2:

A question mark (?), used in writing to indicate a degree of doubt about the accuracy or validity of a following (occas., a preceding) word or statement. Also used in speech to express a written question mark of this kind. Cf. qy. int.

Answer 2

Programmers have been known to call it ‘hook’.

---

Edit:

Modern programmers have a lot more hooky things to cope with than just the old QUESTION MARK from antediluvian typewriter keyboards. For example, here are a bunch of characters whose names contain ‘question’, or ‘glottal’, or ‘hook’, or ‘interro’:

Code  chr GenCat Script          Name
-----------------------------------------------
U+003F ?  GC=Po SC=Common       QUESTION MARK
U+00BF ¿  GC=Po SC=Common       INVERTED QUESTION MARK
U+01BE ƾ  GC=Ll SC=Latin        LATIN LETTER INVERTED GLOTTAL STOP WITH STROKE
U+0241 Ɂ  GC=Lu SC=Latin        LATIN CAPITAL LETTER GLOTTAL STOP
U+0242 ɂ  GC=Ll SC=Latin        LATIN SMALL LETTER GLOTTAL STOP
U+0294 ʔ  GC=Lo SC=Latin        LATIN LETTER GLOTTAL STOP
U+0296 ʖ  GC=Ll SC=Latin        LATIN LETTER INVERTED GLOTTAL STOP
U+02A1 ʡ  GC=Ll SC=Latin        LATIN LETTER GLOTTAL STOP WITH STROKE
U+02A2 ʢ  GC=Ll SC=Latin        LATIN LETTER REVERSED GLOTTAL STOP WITH STROKE
U+02C0 ˀ  GC=Lm SC=Common       MODIFIER LETTER GLOTTAL STOP
U+02C1 ˁ  GC=Lm SC=Common       MODIFIER LETTER REVERSED GLOTTAL STOP
U+02DE ˞  GC=Sk SC=Common       MODIFIER LETTER RHOTIC HOOK
U+02E4 ˤ  GC=Lm SC=Latin        MODIFIER LETTER SMALL REVERSED GLOTTAL STOP
U+0309 ◌̉  GC=Mn SC=Inherited    COMBINING HOOK ABOVE
U+0321 ◌̡  GC=Mn SC=Inherited    COMBINING PALATALIZED HOOK BELOW
U+0322 ◌̢  GC=Mn SC=Inherited    COMBINING RETROFLEX HOOK BELOW
U+061F ‭؟  GC=Po SC=Common        ARABIC QUESTION MARK
U+097D ॽ  GC=Lo SC=Devanagari   DEVANAGARI LETTER GLOTTAL STOP
U+203D ‽  GC=Po SC=Common       INTERROBANG
U+2047 ⁇  GC=Po SC=Common       DOUBLE QUESTION MARK
U+2048 ⁈  GC=Po SC=Common       QUESTION EXCLAMATION MARK
U+2049 ⁉  GC=Po SC=Common       EXCLAMATION QUESTION MARK
U+2E18 ⸘  GC=Po SC=Common       INVERTED INTERROBANG
U+2E2E ⸮  GC=Po SC=Common       REVERSED QUESTION MARK
U+FE16 ︖ GC=Po SC=Common       PRESENTATION FORM FOR VERTICAL QUESTION MARK
U+FE56 ﹖ GC=Po SC=Common       SMALL QUESTION MARK
U+FF1F ？ GC=Po SC=Common       FULLWIDTH QUESTION MARK

Now that characters have official names that are so tediously long, like LATIN LETTER INVERTED GLOTTAL STOP WITH STROKE, it’s even more likely that short slangy forms will get used, although probably only locally.

Answer 3

I am a fan of Asterix (also Obelix), and what you should call * is asterisk. :)

It is called star because it looks like one, and also aster- is a Latin root for star, viz. astral, astronomy, astronaut, astrology etc. So, in essence it is just a formal name of the same sense of a term.

As for ?, you can call it interrogation point, interrogation mark, question point, query or eroteme Check this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question_mark

Hook should be more appropriate for the inverted '?'.

Answer 4

I've never heard of a question mark referred as anything else, with the possible exception of just question (dropping the mark)

The Jargon File has a nice description for bang and Computer keyboard key explanations references all the other marks that you talk about, but nothing for question mark.

Answer 5

Some symbols, such as question mark and comma, are read by simply stating their names, whereas other symbols, such as ampersand and apostrophe, have a separate reading ("and", and "prime", respectively, in this case).

Answer 6

erotem: noun; The symbol used in writing known as a question mark...?

This is my resource: http://english-grammar-mistakes.blogspot.com/2008/03/read-and-read.html

Although I searched the word online, I only found variations of it. I found no other sites to back up the claim that erotem is a synonym for question mark.