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Annoyance of the Day(tm)
I was going to write about Harry Potter, or the Wedding Crashers, or all the bad weather up here I kept getting caught in…
… but I got an email here at work, and it agitated me to the point that I have to blog about it.
The elipsis, when used correctly, is a fine tool in the English language. I have no problems with it, in principle. My dander is raised, though… when people… use the elipsis… way too much… and use it in place of… any other punctuation…
And then… to make matters worse……………………………………….. they start using………………………….. really ……………. long………….elipses……………………………….
It’s three dots, people. Three dots. Not two. Not 4. Not 19. Do long-elipsis users sit there and bang their period repeatly, in a fit of unclosed thought rage? Or maybe their fingers just get tired, and decide to make a pit stop in the lower-right hand corner of the keyboard?
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Rob, an uber-editor co-worker, commented and explained that I was incorrect in stating that it is always three dots. There are, in fact, situations where using a bonus 4th dot is not just acceptable, but mandated. Good information. Thanks Rob!
Mon July 18th, 2005 2:25 pm
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I as well have seen this error–and I have dreamed of ripping the modem cord out of the computer, and devouring the case in three splintering bites. I have a friend who likes to write in long stream of consciousness spurts of randomness, that occasionally contain something VERY important, so I always have to read them. She never uses ANY punctuation, other than the elipsis. Not even a question mark. “gerbils….when are you getting back…..I saw a” etc.
And think of it in that perennially annoying “It could be worse!” state of mind. At least it isn’t the e.e.cummings complex, where no letters are capitalized. Ugh.
Yeah, sounds like you suffered from the pain and anguish of ellipsis abuse.
But an interesting fact: There are two situations where you should actually use a fourth dot (essentially, you’re creating an ellipsis plus a period):
1) If the ellipses fall at the end of a sentence, add a sentence-ending period after the ellipsis. 2) When you’re using the ellipsis to represent a section omitted from a quote and if you’ve omitted a sentence or more and if the quoted words before and after the omission are independent clauses, then add a fourth dot to the ellipsis.
And speaking of e.e. cummings, if we’re copying a poem and cut out one or more complete lines, you should indicate the cut with a whole line of spaced dots.
I love Rob for that note.
But, really, that last paragraph of yours, Andy, is exactly my question. How do these people spend their ellipsis-placing time? Are they thinking of the next thought and want us to have a visual of that (obviously arduous) thought process? Or are they really sitting there, pressing the button over and over (a visual of my mother trying to use the mouse comes to mind: she punches the left button over and over again instead of holding it down to, say, scroll).
Hazel: Thanks for stopping in! I empathize with your rage at the thing. If one of my friends, rather than a coworker, talked like that regularly, I’d march right to their house and inform them of my opinion. And, if necessary, rip the period right off their keyboard.
I have to admit, though, that I tend to engage in some e.e. cummings-esque ramblings on instant messenger. I get sloppy and stop capitalizing and punctuating properly — runons become an m.o. instead of an exception. It is a little embarassing to admit. I just get lazy.
Rob: I remember hearing that rule about the elipsis, now that you mention it… but the poem one is news to me. Interesting. Thanks for the correction, and making me feel small, insignificant, and uneducated! I’m suing SMU, I want my tuition back. I was an English major, I should have had that stuff drilled into my head.
Mal: I don’t know, but every elipsis, I have to stop and give it a long pause, and then a “revelation” stress after I read it in my head. This makes the reading take longer, and it sounds annoying, too. This… COULD be… THE most… IMPORTANT… DAY… OF the week… it just slows everything down.
Oooh, but good thought on the arduous thought process. But this email did not contain arduous thoughts. It was just… thoughts. Comments. Ah well.
Right. Which is why the choice is moronic.
Mallory: Thanks for the props.
Andy: I had to crib the details from my grammar book. All I actually remembered was that if you ended a sentence with ellipses, you needed to add a period, too. You can probably hold off on suing SMU.
as much as i actually love the elipsis, when used correctly, i wanted to hear about harry potter. i should call you too…
So when will we be chatting about HP, anyway? I got that nasty “no spoilers” comment on Ash’s diary…
(A correct use of ellipsis in action!)
I used to have an issue with ellipses.
Then I forced myself to type … every time I wanted to use one. That solved it rather abruptly. My main crutch–though I must say I’m getting better–is my capricious and uneven use of the – and the —.
Whoah. Pardon me! Markup and typography have been the focus of my research lately, and I’m a little out of hand with it all…
Ashley, you SHOULD call me, my phone never rings and says Ashley anymore. It is disappointing. We can have a big HP chat. Are you going to visit Dallas this summer?
hink: thanks for stopping in! I’m an — man myself. I use it way too much. I found myself writing a sentence the other day that had a chain of, like, four of them. Can I not complete a clause? Must I leave them hanging??
Typography is an interesting subject. I wish I knew more about it, other than “I think Arial sucks.”
I hate to admit it, but I am somewhat addicted to the three little dots. It’s not so much that I use them when I type comments or email, but mainly I use them in chats. I never really think about them as elipses though. For some reason I use them to start conversations. Try it sometime. Start an iChat conversation with only “…” and see wha kind of response you get.