As you probably know, I just celebrated my most major of all holidays \u2014 Talk Like a Pirate Day. Another holiday has just passed \u2014 National Punctuation Day. If you were reading this blog a year ago, you know that I did celebrate the day \u2014 well, actually I just mostly complained about punctuation\u2026 or the lack of it, to be specific.
\nPunctuation Day always comes right after TLAP Day and I\u2019m usually still exhausted from all that celebrating and this year we went out with a friend to celebrate her birthday, so the day got by me again without the attention it probably deserves.<\/p>\n
But the punctuation things that annoyed me last year still do this year, so let\u2019s review and expand on them a bit. Again, they pretty much all have to do with \u201ctexting.\u201d Most of you, and myself, have been communicating via text for a while now. Even I have to admit it\u2019s quick, convenient, and usually makes some amount of sense.
\nOften when I see it happening I wonder\u2026 is it rude to text with other people around? I guess there\u2019s no yes or no answer to this one \u2014 it depends on the situation. Some people believe it\u2019s always rude, inconsiderate and distracting to be on the phone sending text messages when someone else is right in front of you. Sometimes, depending on how it\u2019s handled, the action can send a \u201cyou\u2019re not important enough to me\u201d vibe to the other person. A lot of people think a person should give all their attention to whoever they\u2019re physically with and most text can wait.<\/p>\n
Last year I indicated that I thought people\u2019s writing skills were going down the toilet as they became proficient at texting. My opinion hasn\u2019t really changed and my thoughts on the subject are that all things being equal, you usually come across better if your writing is well put together. However in non-professional or less formal situations fussing over every last comma, capitalization or punctuation mark may be a bit unnecessary. I\u2019m beginning to agree that as long as the other person can grasp your meaning, it doesn\u2019t matter that you write something like \u201cu\u201d instead of \u201cyou.\u201d But \u2014 if the message is truly childishly written and incomprehensible, that\u2019s unacceptable and the person should be encouraged to make their writing at least a bit more coherent. I realize that today a lot of people think it\u2019s more important to fire off a message quickly, an the composing perfectly formed sentences isn\u2019t essential.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t like texts that go to a lot people \u2014 they all seem to respond, and my phone beeps with every response\u2026 I don\u2019t like it when it suddenly gets quite and I look around and see someone (maybe more than one) in the group busy texting\u2026 I don\u2019t like it when someone calls, and I can\u2019t answer right then and I immediately get a text that they left me a voice mail\u2026 I don\u2019t like it when someone responds to my text with \u201ck\u201d \u2014 don\u2019t they have an \u201co\u201d on their phone or is it too much trouble to punch one more key?<\/p>\n
I read something recently that a study had concluded that the use of a period in text messages made the response sound less sincere than those responses with no punctuation. If the response is a handwritten note, people expect to see the period \u2014 but not in a text message.
\nThe same study also indicated that if you\u2019re apologizing for something, you should do it face to face, not in a text.<\/p>\n
Anyhow, punctuation is important \u2014 the exact same sentence with and without a simple comma often has a very different meaning \u2014 for example: Let\u2019s eat Grandpa! and Let\u2019s eat, Grandpa!
\nEnglish professors often ask their classes to punctuate the following sentence: Woman without her man is nothing. Usually half the class punctuates it as: Woman: without her, man is nothing. The other half usually comes up with: Woman, without her man, is nothing.
\nSo those squiggly little marks do change things \u2014 maybe punctuation deserves more than just its own day\u2026.
\n\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As you probably know, I just celebrated my most major of all holidays \u2014 Talk Like a Pirate Day. Another holiday has just passed \u2014 National Punctuation Day. If you were reading this blog a year ago, you know that … Continue reading