Texting styles in the news: “Here's Why Boomers Keep Using Ellipses in Text (And Why It Makes You Panic)” (Huffington Post ).
Garner’s Modern English Usage describes a single use for the ellipsis:
Ellipsis points — also called “period-dots” — come in threes. Each one is typographically identical to the period, but together they perform a special function: they signal that the writer has omitted something, usually from quoted matter.”Examples and a bit of nuance (about omitting words from the end of a sentence) follow.
I find just one ellipsis in my vast archive of text messages, from me to fambly: “never mind ... ,” sent after I figured out what I had misunderstood in someone’s previous text. I can’t recall ever seeing the ellipsis as a substitute for conventional punctuation in a text message from anyone of any age, and I agree that the use of the ellipsis in a text, if it’s not signaling omitted words, would indeed seem ... ominous. An example from the Huffington Post — “Hope you’re doing well ...” — would make me suspect that a loan shark will soon drop by to discuss the repayment plan.
Thanks to Jim at 30 Squares of Ontario for pointing me to this bit of punctuation in the news. As I told him, my favorite use of the ellipsis is David Foster Wallace’s in Infinite Jest, where it signals baffled silence in conversation:
“...”
Ellipsis ... posts
A perfect ellipsis in HTML : The DFW ellipsis and other marks of punctuation : The New York Times sanitizing DFW via the ellipsis : Zippy ellipses
[Of course Orange Crate Art has ellipsis posts.]
comments: 5
I frequently use ellipses, usually indicating either a pause or if I have text that will be followed in the next message with a picture. I suppose in the first instance an em-dash might suffice, but ellipses are easier to type on a smartphone.
i often use it as a fill-in the blank rest of the thought: that the other person can come up with as i may not want to send it electronically.
kirsten
When I was reading the letter archives of mid-20th century model railroad writer E. L. Moore (1898-1979) he would often use ... in letters to people he knew well in place of a comma or period as per the link. When I would quote excerpts from some of these letters I would be concerned that readers would interpret the ... as I left something out instead of that's what appeared in the letter. These days though, like yourself, I don't see ... in my correspondence used in the way the link says.
Your comments give me a lot more to think about concerning the…..
Oy, dictation. I’ll try again: as I just discovered, Apple dictation doesn't spell out the … (ellipsis).
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