Community Chat

[millieshops]

that using a period at the end of a text message sentence can be seen as passive aggressive.   

Apparently one of the ways our language is changing in ways no one is telling me.

[Annabellethecat66]

Maybe to some that's true.  I never pay attention to things like that.

I figure anyone I was texting would know I'm not an aggressive person.

Mostly, though, the people in my life I text would have never bothered or cared about something so insignificant.

[Laura14]

The only time a period is passive aggressive is between the ages of puberty and menopause.  

Someone please tell the young ones, not everything, including inanimate objects, is about them.

[Justholdingon]

then I guess i'm passive aggressive. 😂😂

[Sooner]

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@millieshops wrote:

that using a period at the end of a text message sentence can be seen as passive aggressive.   

Apparently one of the ways our language is changing in ways no one is telling me.

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Oh please.  If someone thinks that they are looking for something to be peeved about. 

[mamaslittlepotato]

@millieshops Just an idea.....Do you possibly mean at the end of any word such as “Please.leave.me.alone.” This is common and could be seen as passive aggressive but not a period at the end of a normal sentence.

[mamaslittlepotato]

Don’t most people use periods at the end of a sentence? I think I was taught that in first grade. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[sunshine45]

where did you read this?.....or did someone just tell you?

have never heard that using a period at the end of a text sentence was passive aggressive. i use them sometimes, i dont use them sometimes in texts. believe me, if it was true, my kids would have told me. LOL

i have done what @mamaslittlepotato noted and meant it to be passive agressive. for example..... ABSOLUTELY.DO.NOT.CARE.

[millieshops]

@mamaslittlepotato In the article on my NPR news channel, the example given was a mother texting for her son (maybe high school or college - sorry I forget which) and her last message before signing off as somethhing like "See you later."

The young man came home all upset -  wanted to know why she was angry with him.   She wasn't, but the period made him think she was.

Apparently there's a whole language change going on in texting and elsewhere in the virtual world.  Since the vast majority of my life is with much older people, I have not even thought that I need to learn what's new about language.  Obviously if I'm sending messages I didn't intend to send, I need to.

[Cakers3]

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.