What's the deal with confusing statements and questions?

[Caracal]

Well, this is a well documented thing. Upspeak isn't particularly new, and men do it too, but apparently anybody who employs youngish women to talk in some recored format gets huge amounts of comments complaining about the way they talk. But speech patterns evolve and change all the time. You're free to grumble about it if you want, or ascribe it to white guilt-strange as that idea might be-but it might be better to just accept that things change and not all of those changes are about the downfall of civilization.

[Conjugate]

I've seen periods used to indicate that a question is rhetorical.  Something like this:

"The Others say that X is true.  But do they really believe that.  If they did, they wouldn't do Y."

I also see it on Twitter, where a number of people (including professional writers) use punctuation to indicate inflection.

"So... I don't know?? But maybe???"  That sort of thing.  I find it slightly annoying because it seems to be infantilizing somehow.

[aside]

I also see it on Twitter, where a number of people (including professional writers) use punctuation to indicate inflection.

"So... I don't know?? But maybe???"  That sort of thing.  I find it slightly annoying because it seems to be infantilizing somehow.

Great.  Written upspeak.  Sigh.