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09-05-2020 04:23 PM - edited 09-05-2020 11:03 PM
WaPo., 2016
Stop. Using. Periods. Period.
Have you ever watched parents try to text with their children? One hilarious type of misunderstanding goes like this:
Parent: I am waiting for you in the car.Child: r u mad?Parent: I am not mad.Parent: I am telling you I am waiting.Child: what?????The poor mom or dad doesn’t understand one of the cardinal rules of texting, which is that you don’t use periods, period. Not unless you want to come off as cold, angry or passive-aggressive.
A trend piece in the the New York Times on Friday touched on this fascinating development — which, incidentally, has been brewing for at least two decades, ever since kids were logging onto AOL Instant Messenger. The period is no longer how we finish our sentences. In texts and online chats, it has been replaced by the simple line break. You just hit send
09-05-2020 04:41 PM
...................... (Dots)
.......................(Bullets)
.......................(Red Dots)
.......................(Red Bullets
.......................(A Period)
09-05-2020 04:51 PM
@sunshine45 I started this thread after I read an article on the NPR channel I get on my iPad. It was one of today's top articles this morning. After the story about the mom-son confrontation, the rest of the article lays out some of the linguistic research being done at vatious universities.
In my own personal world, I'm quite unaware of any differences in language usage in texts or in other technical messages with the exception of the kinds of abbreviations we use here in the Forums. That linguists are already writing articles and books on the topic???? nope, I had no idea.
09-05-2020 04:57 PM
@millieshops I was taught that only a fool thinks they know everything.
However, there are some things I don't really care to 'worry' about. That's one of them (the period).
My guess is it's one of two possible reasons. One would be people are in too much of a hurry to put periods and two spaces and begin the sentences with a capital letter. The other would be because (most of the time) text messages are usually short and to the point (not a book). It's maybe some of both.
My middle daughter sends text messages that are very very long. She puts periods, capital letters, as if she was typing a letter.
In todays world people are so worried about hurting feelings ......... (let's leave it at that).
Again, for the most part, anyone I'd text with would have never heard that and even if they did they'd know the meaning behind the text....period or no period.
I think the English language, over the years, has taken a major hit as far as grammar.
09-05-2020 04:57 PM
@Tinkrbl44 I am keeping myself informed. No one in my personal life told me this. Why would they? I read it on the NPR channel on my iPad this morning - it was one of their top stories today -- along with their Kentucky Derby story and one about the unrest in Portland.
09-05-2020 04:58 PM
Really.
09-05-2020 05:02 PM
@mspatmac You might want to read the NPR channel on you iPad. That's where I found the article. I've been following language change ever since I took a course in language history in the 1960's.
09-05-2020 05:03 PM - edited 09-05-2020 05:16 PM
Geez. I can only imagine what an exclamation point means...
ETA: Yikes! And that ellipsis!
09-05-2020 05:10 PM
@Cakers3 wrote:For the love of all that is holy-now we have the text police dictating how to punctuate our texts.
I've seen this analogy before and it means nothing.
Yes, our language changes but punctuation is punctuation.
Next it will be quotation marks, commas, semi-colons, and colons.
Because we have to have something to complain about and heaven forbid we go through life without being offended at everything.
First, "passive-aggressive" is so over-used and not understood.
Second, a period at the end of a sentence is simple punctuation-which apparently is not taught anymore.
What, pray tell, is the difference between using a period in my post and using one in my text??
Nothing. Period.
@Cakers3 You know what's going on here? There are a lot of illiterate people running around telling people with some education what to do and putting them down for understanding how to write a sentence.
It is the definition of bullying.
09-05-2020 05:11 PM
@Annabellethecat66 lol I think our language is changing at a speed we never before saw in its history. If we could go to sleep for the next 20 years the way Rip van Winkle did, when we woke up, we might have as much trouble reading English as students have reading Shakespeare.
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