Adding a Period in a Text Message Just Makes You Look Pissed Off.:
How that simple dot at the end of the sentence became something you use to tell people you’re mad. Right. Now.Here’s an example from an article in the New Republic:
On text and instant message, punctuation marks have largely been replaced by the line break. I am much more likely to type two separate messages without punctuation:
sorry about last night
next time we can order little caesarsThan I am to send a single punctuated message:
I’m sorry about last night. Next time we can order Little Caesars.
And, because it seems begrudging, I would never type:
sorry about last night.
next time we can order little caesars.I talked about this in a post last year (Do you end a text with a period?), concluding that I use periods to varying degrees in text messages, sometimes for snark and especially when a textversation is longer (multiple sentences) or more formal. The comments/notes on that post, about other people’s text punctuation are also interesting. I wonder if anything has changed since then: feel free to check your own texts and report back!
I also liked the discussion of exclamation marks as a sincerity marker:
Nearly everyone has struggled to figure out whether or not a received message is sarcastic. So people began using exclamation points almost as sincerity markers: “I really mean the sentence I just concluded!” (This is especially true of exclamation points used in sequence: “Are you being sarcastic?” “No!!!!!”)
Especially in medium-formal emails, I often use exclamation marks to indicate cheerfulness or lightheartedness (compare “Looking forward to meeting you!” with “Looking forward to meeting you.”). Since emoticons aren’t quite acceptable in a more formal context, I end up using exclamation marks as a substitute when I want to make sure that I’m coming off as friendly.
A related phenomenon, I think, is the use of capitals and/or punctuation to indicate sarcasm. For example, notice the contrast between these two imagined texts:
don’t be late
we’ve got some very important people comingdon’t be late
we’ve got some Very Important People comingIn the second one, capitalizing Very Important People when it doesn’t need to be capitalized makes the sender seem sarcastic or at least as if they’re speaking with a raised eyebrow.
However, sometimes periods are also used for emphasis, and in combination with capitalization perhaps they cancel each other out and become sincere again. For example, I recently found myself saying the following, which is clearly sincere.
Best. Response. Ever.
On the other hand, I’ve noticed that text messages have gotten more likely to include apostrophes and capitals for things like proper names because our phones automatically fill them in, and it would be way too much effort to take them out. (This being said, I’ve trained my phone to use lowercase “internet” and non-hyphenated “email” because using the default versions made me feel like an old fogey.)
aaaaagh I hate this because I absolutely do end messages with a period most of the time because I just do–it’s a sentence, it ends in a period. I don’t mean anything by it! This might be related to my overuse of emoticons too.
Same here, Roane. I don’t text that much, and when I do, I write them the same way I write everything. I imagine I come off as a formal kind of person or maybe a stickler for ‘proper English.’ Or just a fogey. 😀 And it seems like that’s okay. It’s clear I’m not playing by the text-speech rules, and as long as people understand the logic behind how I’m writing, they know how to interpret it.
But what I think is really interesting is that I text JUST enough to have a sense of why these rules (well, more like guidelines at this point) are developing the way they are. It’s a lot of damn work to type a text. And
I’ve got tiny fingers. I have no idea how anybody with bigger hands manages to text in the first place. So the only rational response is to make the default mode of speech ‘minimal effort.’ Anything you do that adds onto that–capitalization, punctuation–therefore carries an additional meaning.
So then of course periods become sarcastic because in that case, why even have them there? All they do is tell you that you’ve reached the end of the sentence, which the line break is already telling you.
Much like capitalizing words unnecessarily–it’s either emphasis or sarcasm. Actually I’ve noticed over the years that a lot of people capitalize words for emphasis, even in formal writing. I don’t think they even notice they’re doing it. It’s the kind of thing a kid naturally intuits when learning to write, because honestly it makes SO much sense, and not all of us get trained out of it.
The exclamation point, on the other hand, has always been a very emotional bit of punctuation. People talk about how it’s supposed to mean demand, or shouting, but what it REALLY does is signify to the reader that this sentence is something they are meant to push extra-far into their head for emphasis. So, it’s perfectly reasonable to apply that to firm sincerity as much as anything else.
And of course there’s CAPITALIZING WORDS instead of italicizing or bolding for emphasis. Because keyboard shortcuts are for weenies or people with obedient fingers (which isn’t me) and phones don’t even have the option (or if they do, it’s way too much poking stuff to bother with).
And then again, people your age and mine grew up on ICQ and AIM, where we had keyboards to write full sentences with and emoticons became a shorthand for the facial expressions and body language we couldn’t see through our screens (back in the day, NOBODY had webcams *spooky old-people noises*). Texting seems to remind us enough of that for a lot of people in that age bracket to fall back on that pattern of communication.
I just kind of love how this stuff makes perfect sense.
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