The Grammar Puss has something to say about this!
Stop! The period is not useless. We need to stop social media before it destroys grammar and punctuation as we know it. I am an old school holdout. I will not give up my period. I might, however, use it to show you how mad I am. Do. Not. Mess. With. Me.
My cat, Trixie, who represents the Grammar Puss -- beware the black cat! / Photo by Deborah Lynch
The use of punctuation – or lack thereof – in social media and texting has moved renowned linguist David Crystal to acknowledge the demotion of the period. This. Is. Serious. For years, English teachers, me included, have bemoaned the declining grammar and punctuation skills of our students. Many have blamed it on social media. Now, Crystal says that instant messages and media with limited characters such as Twitter have negated the need for a period because the message is obviously ended. His admission almost sounds like an endorsement.Wait. Stop. Full Stop. David. Crystal. Have. You. Lost. Your. Mind? Periods provide order. Periods signify endings. Periods clean things up, so readers can read them. Periods make sense of nonsense. Please don’t give our students license to kill the period.Who knew that linguists would side with the younger generation that seems to be re-creating our language? Crystal also notes that new usage of periods has given them a different kind of power. “The period now has an emotional charge and has become an emoticon of sorts,” Crystal noted. As the New York Times reported today, the period can be used to show “irony, syntactic snark, insincerity, even aggression.”Because a period does now provide emotion, it can be combined with one simple word to strike fear such as when is someone is asked to do something and it elicits this response: “Fine.” Ouch. That period in combination with a formerly benign adjective now packs a wallop of discontent.
The period can be used to show “irony, syntactic snark, insincerity, even aggression.”
Studies are finding that the period and punctuation are beginning to take the place of emoticons by teens whose parents have caught on to the smiley face and acronyms like LOL and WTF, rendering them uncool. College students also find texts that use periods to be less sincere. Therefore, one might conclude, as the Times noted, that the period has become a way to express bossiness or annoyance or insincerity.The period carried that strength in the past, but when used orally, not written. To stress a point, speakers would often say the word, “period,” like in this example: “You have to be home by midnight – period!” The speaker clearly sends the message that it is the end of the conversation. No arguing. No questioning. Period. Now the period gets that strength in written communication, too.Crystal’s acknowledgment that the period is unnecessary in some forms of communication and given more power in others leaves purists confused. Is he merely noting a trend? Or is he considering that the power of social media is far greater than we already have come to see? Are we entering the new era of language evolution?The Grammar Puss has something to say about this. While a 140-character Tweet might not require punctuation and an excited text might be overpunctuated, the rhetorical situation remains the same. Speakers and writers must consider themselves (the rhetor), the text (the message), the audience, and the medium. That means that sometimes in some situations for some audiences, the period will be necessary. The period should be around to serve us in all forms for centuries to come. Please. Don’t. Stop. Punctuating. Delivery of your message requires it.
Work Consulted
Bilefsky, Dan. "A Full Stop For Periods? Okay. Fine." The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 10 June 2016. Print.