Punctuation that maybe packs more punch
Have I been inadvertently ticking people off?
Normally one doesn鈥檛 think of punctuation as a sign of aggression.聽
But I keep running into reports that the humble period (full stop) is being used to convey messages along the lines of 鈥淕o jump in a lake,鈥� or worse 鈥� or is at least being interpreted that way.
Here鈥檚 the logic: In ordinary prose, a writer ends a sentence with a period. But in text-speak, the channel for so much communication nowadays, especially between intimates, punctuation often (generally?) disappears. And so a period at the end of a text signals real finality 鈥� not only to the message but also potentially to the relationship.
Ben Crair, writing for a while back, set up this scenario: 鈥淵ou text your girlfriend: 鈥業 know we made a reservation for your bday tonight but wouldn鈥檛 it be more romantic if we ate in instead?鈥� 鈥�
His read is that if she responds with 鈥渨e could do that,鈥� it鈥檚 OK to order a pizza.聽
But suppose the response looks like this, with the period: 鈥渨e could do that.鈥� In that case, Mr. Crair posited, 鈥淭hen you should probably drink a cup of coffee: You鈥檙e either going out or you鈥檙e eating Papa John鈥檚 alone.鈥�
Those of us who continue to punctuate more or less normally, even when typing with one finger, may need to reconsider. We may be in good company, though. Crair noted a comment he had had from University of Pennsylvania linguist Mark Liberman:
鈥� 鈥楴ot long ago, my 17-year-old son noted that many of my texts to him seemed excessively assertive or even harsh, because I routinely used a period at the end.鈥� 鈥�
The theory that periods equal anger seems to be rooted in the idea that communications by text lack the contextual clues provided by other channels, especially face-to-face conversation. And so any little thing, even a point at the end of a line, can be invested with emotion. As Erin Gloria Ryan wrote on , 鈥淭hank goodness our old dotty end of sentence friend the period is here to help.鈥�
We maybe shouldn鈥檛 be surprised at this. People have long said, or written out, 鈥減eriod鈥� for emphasis. Back when parents communicated with their teens over the phone rather than by text, they said things like, 鈥淵ou need to come home now. Period.鈥�
The Wall Street Journal used to play off this with an advertising tag line alluding to the distinctive punctuation mark in its nameplate: 鈥淭he Wall Street Journal. Period.鈥� The was founded in 1889, when newspapers commonly punctuated their nameplates. But the paper has hung onto its period long after other papers dropped theirs.
I鈥檓 likely to hang on to my own habit of punctuating texts. But I plan to keep a sharper eye out for what others do, and modify my practice if that seems appropriate. After all, my goal is to punctuate my messages, not to puncture anyone鈥檚 ego.
