That’s interesting. Adding a space before the exclamation mark would just make me think it’s a typo and not an intentional punctuation choice.
And the the use of the ellipsis is something I’ve recently seen in some work correspondence, and to me it came off as sarcastic, not ominous. Which was strange as the sender is usually very polite. So this makes a lot more sense if it’s a generational thing.
I still don’t understand it though. If not sarcasm, ominous ending, or an interruption, what does an ellipsis signify and why not just use a period?
Yes, thank you! I feel like I’ve read someone sticking to only one usage one too many times and pivoting their entire opinion around that one belief, regardless of how it’s actually used.
I used to use ellipsis a lot and I guess I used it as a lead in from thought to thought and avoid making a new paragraph or something. Now when I see people overly use it, it’s really annoying and I cringe knowing I probably was no better.
It’s funny because even back then there was a younger guy I knew on Steam. I would give him a lot of flak for using <enter> like a comma. A single sentence or thought might be 7 or 8 lines for no reason, causing so many notification sounds that I’d get pissed at him before even reading the message (version 2 of the Steam message sounds were highly grating to me and I couldn’t tolerate them if it was continuous, probably misophonia before I knew it existed). I was pretty persistent in telling him to finish his thoughts in a single line. Years later he actually thanked me because he realized I wasn’t the only one who hated talking to him and couldn’t make meaningful connections online with friends. I just hope I wasn’t too much of a dick in telling him to correct it.
Anymore, I try to be as proper in punctuation as I can be. I’m sure when people see the ending period of a casual sentence in a text, they might read too much into it at first until they get used to me.
The space before the ! Is a habit i picked up from auto correct. When i was adopting auto correct, my phone would only recognize . And space as a trigger for some reason (i grew up on t9 with no chat history, so i was there from the beginning). So i would hit space, then ! So I didn’t have to fix the word. Just left the space in. Now its just habit on my phone to space before i !
That’s interesting. Adding a space before the exclamation mark would just make me think it’s a typo and not an intentional punctuation choice.
And the the use of the ellipsis is something I’ve recently seen in some work correspondence, and to me it came off as sarcastic, not ominous. Which was strange as the sender is usually very polite. So this makes a lot more sense if it’s a generational thing.
I still don’t understand it though. If not sarcasm, ominous ending, or an interruption, what does an ellipsis signify and why not just use a period?
It mean an incomplete thought or phrase, in some situation it mean the lack of words, i should make some examples maybe
"They can be used like…
…this"
“I don’t really understand… why you did this?” This example show the lack of words for something
It can also mean disappointment/sadness
“I though i was gonna win…”
These are good examples. I suppose I should have clarified that I’m used to seeing ellipsis in literature, but not in interpersonal communication.
I suppose that’s what threw me off. It just doesn’t feel like a natural way to communicate.
Yes, thank you! I feel like I’ve read someone sticking to only one usage one too many times and pivoting their entire opinion around that one belief, regardless of how it’s actually used.
Funnily enough, I’ve also read another use by older folks who use ellipses to indicate a separation of ideas. I find it strange and antiquated, but it’s valid in its context.
I used to use ellipsis a lot and I guess I used it as a lead in from thought to thought and avoid making a new paragraph or something. Now when I see people overly use it, it’s really annoying and I cringe knowing I probably was no better.
It’s funny because even back then there was a younger guy I knew on Steam. I would give him a lot of flak for using <enter> like a comma. A single sentence or thought might be 7 or 8 lines for no reason, causing so many notification sounds that I’d get pissed at him before even reading the message (version 2 of the Steam message sounds were highly grating to me and I couldn’t tolerate them if it was continuous, probably misophonia before I knew it existed). I was pretty persistent in telling him to finish his thoughts in a single line. Years later he actually thanked me because he realized I wasn’t the only one who hated talking to him and couldn’t make meaningful connections online with friends. I just hope I wasn’t too much of a dick in telling him to correct it.
Anymore, I try to be as proper in punctuation as I can be. I’m sure when people see the ending period of a casual sentence in a text, they might read too much into it at first until they get used to me.
The space before the ! Is a habit i picked up from auto correct. When i was adopting auto correct, my phone would only recognize . And space as a trigger for some reason (i grew up on t9 with no chat history, so i was there from the beginning). So i would hit space, then ! So I didn’t have to fix the word. Just left the space in. Now its just habit on my phone to space before i !
It signifies an incomplete thought or idea…
… like this.