Devil Dots

Ellipsis dots ( ...) traditionally serve as a punctuation mark to indicate an omission of words, or trailing off in thought or dialogue, but among Baby Boomers, they're often used in written communication to separate ideas or thoughts within a paragraph.  Boomers might see the ellipsis as a natural break or pause, while younger generations associate it with indicating something left unsaid or an awkward pause, leading to misunderstandings in digital communication.

https://www.ndtv.com/feature/explained-boomer-ellipses-in-texting-and-how-gen-z-is-reacting-to-it-6069697

https://youtu.be/7pqxA9aqdfg?si=6ZLVUpm3ow3EKHPC

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Transcript

Dot dot dot … you know, those devilish dots.  The ones you can’t eat.  Well, we will let you get away with it if you have some coffee.  But avoid the paper kind as dry mouth will ensue.

Ok, let’s talk dots, shall we?

Because those evil ellipses dots are now the subject of much opinion and confusion.

Honestly, I don’t think I ever used them until I hit college.  Those dots were the domain of academics and journalists.  Shortening quotations and sounding smart.  I am sure the first time I used them I misused them, incurring the wrath of my first college English teacher.  He was a crusty old fellow, and was quite old school.  People forget, but years ago English was a pretty tough discipline, and red ink and a good scolding in the margins of a paper and destroying your ego as a would-be writer was standard fare.  It took years to recover.  Matter of fact, I am still recovering.  Pain passed down.  Be excellent or find something else to do.

As email and texting took over, and older generations finally adapted, those devilish dots found new meaning, representing a pause in thought, a change or 46 degree turn.   Actually, as I took to tech it was the younger generation (my kids) that used them.  They repurposed an otherwise old style manual rule for the modern era.  

And it worked.  So as Generation X took to the texting world, the dots followed.  Boomers were slower to adapt, but adapt they did.  And so the dots followed.  A lot.

But I guess this makes sense.  Boomers text less, I think, but they write longer sentences, and actually compose near long form letters as they text on those older smartphones they won’t replace for 15 years or so.  C’mon.  You know this is true.

If you didn’t know, Gen Z is pushing back.  Those dots have now been dubbed “Boomer Ellipses”.  Old people's punctuation has found a home, it seems.  Gen Z hurling another “hey, you are old” at our most tenured.

But let’s be fair here … Gen Z writes little.  A 500 word essay of any quality might be a big ask when character limits of new platforms is a rule and attention spans are now measured in milliseconds.  Hard and fast style rules have disappeared.  Replaced with lol and smh … while Boomers simple use etc.  

Want to know more?  You can click the link below, Explained: "Boomer Ellipses" In Texting And How Gen Z Is Reacting To It, by Anoushka Sharma.

https://www.ndtv.com/feature/explained-boomer-ellipses-in-texting-and-how-gen-z-is-reacting-to-it-6069697

But maybe click on the Youtube video, also below, for a little younger take on the matter.

https://youtu.be/7pqxA9aqdfg?si=6ZLVUpm3ow3EKHPC

As Adam Aleksic notes  “ … a linguistics influencer on Instagram recently attempted to theorize why Gen Z doesn't use ellipses but boomers do. Ellipses technically imply a pause that something has been purposefully omitted according to punctuation rules. However, when it comes to text-based electronic communication, its use frequently varies.

If follows:

"It's because they (boomers) grew up following different rules for informal communication. nowadays, if you want to separate an idea, you just press enter and start a new line with a new thought. But it made less sense for writing postcards or letters where you had to save space. So people back in the day learnt to separate thoughts by using ellipses."

I think Adam sums it up about right.  Although I will note “back in the day” is a rather old phrase now, and even back when people actually sent postcards, those dots weren’t that common.  They weren’t bell bottom jeans or disco or anything like that.  

Alas, maybe AI will take those devil dots back, correcting them as they are writing.  

But note to Gen Z … smirk all you want, Gen Alpha is right behind you, and with AI they are going to make you old fast, lampooning at every angle.

Welcome to life kids … gravity gets us all and laughs slowly all the way down.

Now, where did I misplace that pencil?

More later …

#ellipsis,#genz,#boomers,#texting

@etymologynerd

@AnoushkaSharma_

@GrammarGirl