Reay JespersenMar 8, 2023

*PLEASE BOOST*

I’m an English major and a writer.
Old habits die hard.
But I’m always trying to learn new things, including communication nuances.

All of which is background leading up to this poll:

Should I stop adding periods at the end of texts that are intended to be open-ended and invite a reply (i.e. where I don’t want to appear offish or as if I’m trying to end the discussion)?

No. Punctuation matters.
33%
It doesn’t matter. Stop overthinking things.
51.8%
Absolutely. Get with the times, old man.
15.3%
Poll ended at .
Show threadderaffeMar 9, 2023
@reay I chose the "doesn't matter" option, since I have observed that people will develop their own quasi-dialect depending on the medium and their relationship.
That said, (even though I was born in the last millenium) I use (and care about) punctuation a lot, but mostly to indicate subtle nuances of speech that might otherwise be lost.
Show threadderaffe
@reay A period indicates lowering your voice, a question mark raising it. But I find myself often not doing either -- instead, in conversation, I will often let the end of a sentence hang there as it is, maybe because I'm lost in thought, maybe because I'm pausing to allow the other person to interject.
Mar 9, 2023 at 12:29amWeb
Show threadderaffeMar 9, 2023
@reay To indicate this flat ending, I use (and perhaps abuse) ellipses. But I do think I'm leaving out parts of my speech or thoughts, so I guess this could still count as its originally intended use.
I rarely, if ever, leave off the period at the end, though, and if I do, it's often because of limitations of the medium or my time in composing the message.
Show threadderaffeMar 9, 2023
@reay Possibly also affecting my perspective: English is not my native language.