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The New Punctuation

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by airportkid, Jul 14, 2008.

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  1. airportkid

    airportkid Will Fly For Food

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    The comma, dash, colon and semi-colon will probably survive written languages' metamorphosis into the digital age, but such anachronisms as the period, question mark and especially the exclamation point will die out, replaced by the infinite cornucopaea of smilies, which do the job so much more effectively :)

    I can't wait to see what smilies will be developed to replace these gems of now antique punctuation:

    @!#*$&#!!!

    ?*&$!!#???

    and of course that old favorite,

    #*$&@!?*!&#!!!

    :p
     
    #1 airportkid, Jul 14, 2008
  2. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    We'll never see the end of the period. People wouldn't know when to stop and take a breath. And then there's my favorite ..........

    Likewise the question mark. How do you know when to make your voice go up?

    Interjections will last as long as our language is blue and the 7 words exist!
     
    #2 Godiva, Jul 14, 2008
  3. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    The period is here to stay I don't know why anyone would think otherwise besides computers and cell phones have made our use of punctuation much better than it used to be imho so what seems to be the big concern for the decline in punctuation use on the other hand constant exposure to priuschat may result in permanent brain rot others say not what do you think

    tom
     
    #3 qbee42, Jul 14, 2008
  4. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    If anything goes, it will be the apostrophe. No one know's how to use it properly anyway.
     
    #4 Godiva, Jul 14, 2008
  5. effwitt

    effwitt Paparazzi Magnet

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    The semicolon is already all but dead; when was the last time you saw one?
     
    #5 effwitt, Jul 14, 2008
  6. Spectra

    Spectra Amphi-Prius

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    Many don't -- ex: valley girl young person
     
    #6 Spectra, Jul 14, 2008
  7. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    It's not that I haven't seen one used in a while, effwitt; I haven't seen one used correctly in a long time.

    But I agree that the semi will go soon. I've seen commas being used, reused, overused, and used again, for, apparently, no good reason.

    I've always enjoyed the period, comma and semicolon though. Stemming from authors conveying pause lengths to actors, they still serve to provide the reader with a sense of mental pause. There are still some situations, for example when extra information is interjected in a sentence, when a sentence is very important. Without them the sentence would be more difficult to understand.

    I use multiple instant message providers. almost every message I type is a full sentence. I simply don't like the IM shorthand.
     
    #7 TonyPSchaefer, Jul 14, 2008
  8. Spectra

    Spectra Amphi-Prius

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    On NPR's "This American Life" this weekend -- Ira Glass told a story of perfectly intelligent people reading signs such as "School X-ing," "Duck X-ing" as if it was pronounced "zing."

    No one told them until adulthood.

    What a zinger. ouch :brick:
     
    #8 Spectra, Jul 14, 2008
  9. patrickindallas

    patrickindallas Shire rat

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    :rofl:
     
    #9 patrickindallas, Jul 14, 2008
  10. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    The question mark will be replaced with "like....oh my GAWD."
     
    #10 Godiva, Jul 14, 2008
  11. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    That's just plain stupid.

    Everyone knows it's eckzing.

    Also Ecksmas
     
    #11 Godiva, Jul 14, 2008
  12. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    Those "School Crossing" signs are misleading. I've driven past the same school for years and have yet to see it cross the road!
     
    #12 TonyPSchaefer, Jul 14, 2008
  13. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

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    Me agree. :madgrin:


    Godiva: Your new avatar manages to be both amusing and repulsive at the same time. I miss Ramses already.
     
    #13 dogfriend, Jul 14, 2008
  14. Ichabod

    Ichabod Artist In Residence

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    Y'all don't know 'aught 'bout 'postrophes. They's here to stay.

    The semicolon is a good candidate for being officially stricken from the language; nobody uses them correctly. Nobody, I say!

    Fortunately there are several examples of punctuation that has already died due to the fact that they're not accessible on a standard US keyboard: Accents, both grave and acute. The diaresis (looks like an umlaut) which, it seems to me, is only used in The New Yorker magazine... and nobody seems to use the correct number of dots in in their ellipses....
     
    #14 Ichabod, Jul 14, 2008
  15. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    Dats not only eliterate, it be two many words. "Duck!" would be enuf. So's ya dont gets zinged, see?
     
    #15 hyo silver, Jul 14, 2008
  16. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    Speåk för yoursélf. My keyboard çan do plenty of diaresises.

    Helps to have relatives named Götz.
     
    #16 Godiva, Jul 14, 2008
  17. Rae Vynn

    Rae Vynn Artist In Residence

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    It's a crying shame that the apostrophe has seen its last days.

    I try, often, to use special characters to emphasize my words, but the IM window just turns them into smilies, $#(#@*)()!!
     
    #17 Rae Vynn, Jul 14, 2008
  18. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    I know. A two-fer. I'm feeling a bit politically active lately. Can't imagine why. (It's from Harry Shearer's Songs of the Bushmen.)

    (Ramses still has a crush on Dingo and wants her to drop her current boyfriend and hook up with him.) Don't worry. He'll be back. Eventually.
     
    #18 Godiva, Jul 14, 2008
  19. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    I'm still waiting for her to live up to her name. You know, the nude lady on a horse idea. ;)
     
    #19 hyo silver, Jul 14, 2008
  20. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    What? And get me banned from Priuschat?

    I'm afraid this is as close as you're going to get:

    [​IMG]
     
    #20 Godiva, Jul 14, 2008
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