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What noun would best describe an 'asker of a question'? Par example on StackExchage it is usual to refer to the asker of a question as on OP, but is there a proper English word for 'OP'?
I am basically looking for suitable alternatives to 'OP' in a discussion on a meta site here. Just to avoid saying 'OP' too frequently.
Well, there are several choices, but the ones that first came to mind are inquirer/enquirer, querent, questioner, and *drum roll* asker!
I used Stack Exchange as an example. If you search on Meta SE, the SE where you can ask about bugs, features, and support for all SEs, then you get (as of the time that I am writing this)
Looking at the results and the posts, it's safe to say that, on SE, people often call OP "asker".
Of course, you can vary your usage by using the other choices, but asker is the most popular on SE. I imagine this is true on most other forums.
My understanding is that "OP" is an acronym for "Original Poster", which means the person who authored the first post in the current thread. Personally (native AmE), I would use one of the following:
"OP" (it's practically a word now)
"asker" (people are reportedly used to this term)
"question poser" (accurate, but don't later call them the poser, because that means someone who is pretending to be something they are not in order to get attention, and is amusingly insulting)
"Original Poster" (accurate)
"poser of the question" (accurate and more formal)
