It conveys more information than the request, while demanding less.
"Meeting, tomorrow, 11am" - "I need your time but can't be arsed to tell you why"
"?" - "What's this about, then?"
Personally, yes, I would respond with a full sentence. But it would mean the same thing, and doesn't do as good a job of discouraging the rude behavior.
> Personally, yes, I would respond with a full sentence. But it would mean the same thing
It has the same semantics, but the tone is entirely different.
> doesn't do as good a job of discouraging the rude behavior.
Passive aggressiveness doesn’t discourage people from the behaviour, it just makes them think you’re an unpleasant person. If you want somebody to change their behaviour, tell them what the problem is and ask them to change it. “?” doesn’t do that.
"Meeting, tomorrow, 11am" - "I need your time but can't be arsed to tell you why"
"?" - "What's this about, then?"
Personally, yes, I would respond with a full sentence. But it would mean the same thing, and doesn't do as good a job of discouraging the rude behavior.