Comments

  1. blf says

    Heh, so do I (when I use SMS, that is, which is a different difference). I will add in the occasional emoji, and have been known to sometimes use a few of the more common / informal amateur radio (ham radio) Q codes. Probably the most common thing, however, are the unintential Tpyos offerinfs. 🧐
    QSH

  2. billseymour says

    I must be even older since I don’t text.

    You will sometimes find a 😎 in my blog comments; and I’ve been known to use LOL (when it’s true) and IMO (or IMHO when I’m not being humble); but that’s about it.

    I always click the Preview button and proofread my comments. When a typo slips through, as has happened more than once,
    I’m appropriately ashamed.

  3. anat says

    I was told recently that periods at the end of text messages are considered rude, or loud, somewhere between an exclamation mark and capslock. I find this puzzling.

  4. Rob Grigjanis says

    I will occasionally stoop to using an ampersand for ‘and’, but that’s it. Get off my lawn.

  5. StonedRanger says

    No mobile phone, so no social media apps of any kind. And I like it that way. I have a landline and if it rings and its for me twice a month I would be amazed. Never sent or received a text message and Im fine with it, but if I did, I would be that guy who uses proper grammar and punctuation. Every time I have tried to keep up with the times and use ‘text speak’ people just make fun of me because of my age.

  6. billseymour says

    StonedRanger@5:  that pretty well describes me, too.  I got a mobile phone a while ago because I thought I’d need it to dial in to Zoom meetings.  That turned out not to be necessary; but I do still use it sometimes as a WiFi hotspot when I exceed my data allotment on my just-plain-hotspot (my only connection to the Internet…good enough for e-mail and blogs).

    I’m not a Luddite — I’m a computer programmer — I just don’t like telephones very much.

  7. garnetstar says

    My question is, how do you make the reader of your message understand what you mean if you don’t use punctuation? Periods at the ends of sentences seem essential (and how is it that they are rude?) Or, a question mark? How does the reader know that you’re asking a question?

    Once I downloaded an app with the text of all Jane Austen’s novels, only to discover that it omitted using quotation marks when character spokes and finished speaking. I can’t even understand the text!

    The first essential of any message is that it be clear. That’s why we have punctuation. If I have to text back and ask “What?”, I’m just going to delete your message.

  8. John Morales says

    garnetstar:

    my question is
    how do you make the reader of your message understand what you mean if you don’t use punctuation
    periods at the ends of sentences seem essential
    and how is it that they are rude

  9. garnetstar says

    Not good, John @10. You didn’t use more than one sentence, so periods are irrelevant. Also, since I wrote that with punctuation, we already know what it means.

    Doesn’t work.

  10. John Morales says

    thing is
    punctuation and capitalisation
    are not essential
    phrasing suffices
    plenty of ancient documents
    make their point without those
    don’t they

  11. steve oberski says

    The original Hebrew (and Aramaic) Old Testament was written without vowels and without punctuation.

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