The zen of punctuation
Emails, IMs and Blogs. Oh my. Not to mention emails lists, message boards and the venerable comments section. Oh geez.
All these are forms of communication not unlike books where we tell our stories, try to find our own voice and get our point across. Unlike traditional publishing, which does seems to rile y’all up a bit, internet communication holds the appeal of immediate gratification. Write a blog post, hit published and presto – you’re published. Published so much that you can’t sell anything you’ve uploaded to a blog, which is why I stopped all that personal blogging I did for almost three years. Good salable stuff online for free. Um, not.
And just like in the realm of printed work, sometimes our thoughts are misconstrued, our words misinterpreted. I’ve heard time and time again that sometimes emails don’t come across the way we want them too. We’re hasty with our words, and most of all, we are very loosey goosey with our punctuation. And as much as misused, misspelled words, the excessive use of punctuation makes me nervous. I end up feeling like I have to measure someone’s enthusiasm or confusion based on their usage. I want to get it right. I start to sweat.
For example, what makes someone use three, if not four exclamation points after a sentence? Am I not as enthusiastic as you if I use one question mark and not six? How about if I write in upper and lower case and admonish the use of all caps?
Does the person who writes
It is so great to hear from you!!!
happier to receive your email than the person who simply is states
It is so great to hear from you.
Doesn’t saying that it is so great to hear from someone diminish the need for excessive exclaiming?
And how about the question mark purge? The more confused you are, the more question marks you use?
Want to meet me for coffee? What were you thinking????
There is a proliferation of ellipses as well. Of quotation marks. And in the non-use of capital letters, sloppy spelling, run-on sentences and the ever-present email that exists as one huge paragraph.
I’m part of an email group where people (women) are often introducing themselves. They are always so glad to be here!!!! And I think to myself: Self, that chick really needs to get a life, because this is good but it’s not four exclamation points good. Truly. I’m not saying I’ve never done it. I’m just saying that the more I see it on lists, in blogs, in emails and on every single social networking site that sucks my time away, the more I am determined, to not.
Shave off the snark and and therein lies the difference between expressing oneself and being a writer, someone who uses words sparingly and punctuation properly. Someone who has a point, or tries to. Someone who starts at the beginning, creeps to the middle and barrels to the end. Someone who places true value on each word and its meaning and to using language carefully — at least most of the time.
Know what I mean????????
My name is Erica . . . and I am an ellipses addict.
Yes!!!!! I know what you mean. It’s sometimes easy to have a tone or message misconstrued online, and so maybe the punctuation emphasis is an effort to be clear? idk. Personally, I think the meaning comes through stronger with the proper punctuation. I like your Shave off the snark paragraph. It hit home, in it’s what I strive for. Thanks.
In emails and IM, I am the queen of too much punctuation!!!! When writing I often catch myself and correct it, if I get carried away. Very good point…I shall try to pare down.
Hmm….well!!! Um, ya know, i think, maybe? I use a lot of incorect spelling and uh…maybe I should watch my CAPS and uh like you know think about wordz that don’t fit and maybe keep my day job!!!!!!
That blog post was a very accurate and shaming to me. Good post Amy! oops Amy!!!!!!! Bet clean up my writing or I’ll keep cleaning toilets for a living.
I would like mention at this juncture that there are mythical french words also being bandied about the internet. I find this very disconcerting.
Send the punctuation po-po to my email address, please. Guilty as charged, but working on it. (I usually just attribute the use of all those fun punctuation marks, emoticons and other gidgy-gadgets to the typer’s personality more than to intended meaning.) *insert smiley face here*
I love punctuation!
Punctuation is a tool, and commas and the like were originally meant to denote how long a pause a reader should make between two words. Punctuation is a fluid, changing thing just like language. That’s it’s beauty, and to limit it to a set of rules is to stifle its power.
I’m all for anything that makes my voice sound more like my voice. I’m an italics, capital letters, smiley face, triple question mark person. But I also love to read those people who are calm and zen-like in their punctuation.
Online, all we’ve got is punctuation and words. While some people wear hot-pink and green, others wear tan and white. It’s just a matter of personal style, to me. And why the differing sets of punctuation rules are found in “style books.”
Erica: Twenty lashes with wet parentheses.
Joanne: We all do it, I know that. I just had enough of it this weekend and wondered if the earth would stop spinning if the exclamation points went on strike.
Isobel: Trying, babe. That’s all I ask.
Val: Your comment cracked me up — and please share the mythical French words. Making up words can be fun, until someone thinks they’re real. I love my LOLs and ROTFLs and my BRBs.
Angie: I love me my smileys. Or is that smilies? They add cuteness to any email. Much better than punctuation.
Spy: Good point. I never thought of punctuation as an expression of style. I look at the use of punctuation as more a part of grammar. Again, I’m not saying I don’t do it sometimes, I just see so much of it, that I wondered where all the restraint went.
Another point, for me, is that even blogging I don’t want to ever write something that I wouldn’t want an editor or agent to read. I think they’d be forgiving of a personal, lackadaisical style in a blog, but in general I always want to represent my best writing, thinking self when on world wide web. Not saying I always achieve it, just saying that’s what I want.
hehe eh i’m not “riled up” about traditional publishing. I really don’t care if people do it, seek it, like it, whatever. This ain’t West Side Story, there’s no need for us to go all Sharks and the Jets about it.
Also, you actually CAN publish old blogs. Plenty of people have taken old blog posts and turned them into print books. Seth Godin is one well known one, but by no means the only one. While sure someone could sift through every single post you have to find the gems, that could take weeks if you’ve accumulated hundreds or thousands of blog posts. There are several people who I would totally buy a print copy of their “greatest hits” blog posts.
Cleaned up and re-formatted for a print publication of course.
Oh, and I have comma problems. Like whoa!
Zoe: Commas are good. As for publishing blog posts, sure you can incorporate them into a book, but you cannot take a blog post and then submit it to a magazine or literary journal or even many contests or other websites. Blog posts are considered “published.” At least this is the case for magazines and newspapers where I publish and aspire to publish my work. Some smaller or regional pubs will take them as reprints, but the pay is very low. I know you’re not in it for the money, Zoe, and kudos to you. I wish that wasn’t one of my many driving forces.
Ditto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah, absolutely agreed Amy. I forget all publishing isn’t “books,” lol. Sometimes I have tunnel vision with this. It’s like…oh yeah magazines exist and stuff. hahaha.
And don’t get me wrong, in about 10 years I’d like to make some pretty decent money, but I figure if I can’t do it on my own in 10 years, then I can’t do it period…at least not in a “money” way.