Why do people see me as far older than 19 when I type the way I do sometimes?/Why do people think full stops are rude?
Why do people see me as far older than 19 when I type the way I do sometimes?/Why do people think full stops are rude?
This is a 2-in-1 question, I suppose. I type the way I do. I’ve always typed this way, but I’ve noticed when interacting with people (not on here) that people always think I’m far older than 19. They think I’m in my forties or fifties.
Also, I tend to type using full stops, which people may think are rude. When I’m typing a full sentence, though, I end it with a period. If I say, “He’s being an asshole,” (with a period), I mean that as a fact, not out of anger. It just happens to be ended with a period since it’s a sentence.
If people want to abbreviate their words and phrases when they’re texting or whatever, fine. Skip the capitals and punctuation, fine. But it is never rude to use proper spelling and grammar, even when texting. Your friends need to unplug, read a book, and enrich their fucking brains.
It's not rude, it is polite. But friends want to be close to each other, not polite
when u use correct grammar I feel so distant from you it’s tearing us apart
because typing with poor grammer is more common on phones. lol.
Well, I only know that people who don't end their sentences properly sound like rambling idiots.
end their sentences properly
Well, with the justice system these days...
True.
I'm guessing you're in your forties or fifties
The idea of periods being rude or something is moronic.
I've never had one, but they seem to be assholes in general. Cramps, bleeding, unwanted hormone surges.
It's simply linguistic evolution, and I find it interesting how the internet has shaped language. Writing on the internet tends to be very short and conversation-like, so if you want to get a point across there's no need for a full stop. This meant, that when people put full stops at the end of messages on the internet, it started being seen as more formal and serious, which became a tone marker
linguistic evolution
"Usage dictates form" is how vapid influencer bimbos are driving English into the dumpster. French evolves: it has a committee to weed out stupid. English has no such guidance, and that's why it trends toward an appearance we'd call 'platypodian' if we could only find some instagram bimbo to promote it.
I guess because people under 20 type like illiterates that if you type correctly, using proper punctuation and spelling and what not, they assume you have to be older.
I don't want to agree. Also, I often agree.
Brodie tf u generalizing all us u20s for?
I had to read this three times to make sense of your grammar; so now I assume you're under 20. ;-)
no offense, but mature people wouldnt ask this question. its attention-seeking behavior often found in children.
Good thing it's a child asking the question? Great job dunking on a 19 year old, really shows your maturity to attack the validity of a question on a forum called NoStupidQuestions.
What does this have to do with maturity? The post didn't even seem like it came from insecurity, merely curiosity.
There's a linguistic shift happening where people tend to not use periods in short form communications (sms, dms, etc..). So older people who may not be as plugged in to the youth culture sill use them. So it only makes sense someone would be seen as older if they did.
E: avoiding certain wording. Nothing substantive.
I'd say it's more insecurity
I think it's trying to understand society and his place in it. These aren't bad questions. At a certain point you rather know where you fit and other people be damned. But at 19, your trying to understand how other people think still. You have your own thought process and are still getting used to other adults not processing information the way you do.
What an insensitive take
I'll say that, and I'll know from the downvotes just who needed to hear it.
Because old people like me view written correspondence as less disposable. When jotting down personal notes, we don't worry about spelling or punctuation, but writing a letter? You double check that shit so there isn't documentation of how illiterate you are!
Youth grew up with texting. It's designed to be fast and efficient. Sup? OMG 👍 They just need to get the point across, it's not a grammar competition.
Neither is right or wrong, it's just a generational difference.
it's not a grammar competition.
While I agree that there's less of an expectation of grammar, informal text communication has definitely developed grammar of its own. OP mentioned full stops, for example — ending a message with one is a tone marker now
Oh, no. It's wrong. Punctuation makes everything clear!
It made everything clear back when everything was hand written or done on a type writer. This mattered as paper wasn't infinite.
Much of modern communication is done in bubbles on screens, so the punctuation doesnt matter as much as it used to.
That said, run-on sentences and word salad are quite common which makes for some entertaining yet stroke inducing screenshots.
The so-called "rules" of language arent actually rules. They are observations. Language use has greatly evolved over time, and schools teach the rules as they know them, forgetting that even a hundred years ago, it was different.
There is absolutely no difference between "no" and "No.". Both can be understood perfectly well.
Well where else am I supposed to get my practice in for the Junior Grammar Rodeo
Young people focus on the tone they're conveying.
Old people focus on following the rules that were beaten into them as children for no reason.
That's a good way of framing it.
Cell phone grammar is primarily the absense of grammar. The thumbtyping generation has lost the ability to communicate in a precise, concise manner.
Sadly this also reflects other problems like attention deficits and horrible argumentation skills.
There's also that habit....... of using only a lot of suspension dots..... cause apparently commas are dead.....
Because those of who grew up communicating a lot via the written word stopped feeling beholden to type using classic grammar rules like ending every sentence of every communication with a period no matter what.
The entire purpose of language is to express yourself, and people started noticing that their texts sounded friendlier if they sounded less abrupt, so they started typing that way.
You type according to traditional essay writing rules which is how older people learned to write, younger people learned to focus on producing natural sounding language and conversation.
To me, sentences ending in a period feel immutable, and without nuance, but sentences without a period feel incomplete, or up to change. Without periods it is almost a way to say, "this is what I think right now, but I might reconsider." So, it's not that periods are rude per-se, but it may appear that you've made up your mind and are closed off to interpretation. Sometimes I intentionally remove periods or turn it into an ellipsis for exactly that reason. It's just way too easy to misinterpret people's intentions through text for me not to type in a way I think reduces misinterpretation.
As for being associated with older people... anecdotally speaking, my co workers sound like they were taught that there is an immutable, proper way in the world, and so they express themself in that proper way. Nothing wrong with that really! Once I get a feel for their personality, I find it kind of endearing :)
I'm not sure if it's part of the reason, but you're sentences are all rather short, therefore the periods and commas are repeated a lot.
Older people grew up writing less than younger people have, because of texting, so they’re more accustomed to taking their time with the proprieties of grammar. Younger people began using grammar as a tone marker differently from how it had previously been used, so they tend to see a bigger difference between “no” and “No.” as an answer to a question than older people do. For younger people, the latter tends to seem more abrupt and final, which could come across rudely.
accustomed to taking their time
Taking time to do it right? What fucking losers. Wait; why did my heart monitor stop workin--------
They didn't say do it right, they said do it with propriety, as in making sure to follow the rules for the sake of following the rules.
The way you type is like any other form of self-expression. If others want to read into it or decide they don’t like it, that’s on them. Type however you like and don’t give it another thought.
YES IM JUST EXPRESSING MYSELF, ITS TOTALLY EVERYONE ELSES FAULT FOR FEELING OFF-PUT BY MY TYPING STYLE. THERE DEFINITELY ARENT SOCIAL NORMS AND CONTRACTS THAT WE ALL FOLLOW TO BE ABLE TO EASILY AND ACCURATELY COMMUNICATE.
This forces my own question
People can tell my age just by my punctuation or lack thereof?
Apparently so. People think the fact that I use proper grammar makes me around forty or fifty.
Is your intention to convey a certain tone or win a grammar competition?
Yes, each generation has words or a style of typing that they grew up or had to adapt to.
IIRC Boomers and Gen Z use more emoji than Gen X and Y.
Millenials grew up with keyboards, so they tend to type full sentences, punctuation, shit like that. With Gen X being a toss-up.
Boomers tend to use formal language, but they suck at distilling their thoughts into something another human person can understand. (Boomer ramblings on Facebook)
Wish I could find the article that broke it down, but search engine sludge makes any question about generations into links to quizzes.
Kind of. There is one punctuation tell that you can typically use to tell if someone is older, and thats if they use ellipsis to separate thoughts rather than line breaks in informal settings.
Back in the day when you were writing on paper, space was a limited resource, so people that are more used to that will separate ideas with a '...' rather than starting a new paragraph because you can fit more text into a smaller footprint.
Come the turn of the millennium, digital writing became the norm and people that grew up surrounded by computers tend to use line breaks instead because space is not limited in the same way anymore.
Or we write […] to indicate we've removed words from a direct quotation
I don't think people use an ellipsis as a pseudo-line break... They use it for pacing. It's just a pause within the same thought most of the time.
This is the first time I'm reading this sort of thing and I wouldn't be too sure of it because I'm a millennial who intermittently uses ellipses, haha.
It's pretty normal for language to vary between generations, it's just that we all communicate via text a lot more now, so differences in punctuation usage have become noticeable parts within those language variations
If it makes you feel any better, this is the most 19 year old post ever.
I feel like there's a fine line here between wanting to use proper grammar and thinking you're superior for doing so
I just want to.
Just do you. Once you turn into an adult nobody will care. Just hang in there for a few years.
Twenty years ago when I was your age, I felt the same way. People are just ignorant.
You're asking the wrong crowd. People likely think you're old because you talk to us too much.
I have found that I always use proper punctuation in informal communication except for a period at the end of a message. If the last sentence is a question or exclamation, I'll use a question mark or exclamation point. But if it technically requires a period: usually nothing.
Then again, I am in my forties or fifties
For the first question, you might find answers more helpful if you ask the aforementioned people that you're actually interacting with.
And regarding the second question, it's probably related to the first. Young people who grew up texting and using social media have adopted abbreviated writing styles. Older people using the same technologies tend to retain more proper forms. Of course, people aren't monoliths. There's plenty of young people writing in complete sentences and plenty of older people utilizing short form words.
I quite like your way of typing, tbh. Looks quite elegant.
Thank you! You too.
The iPhone keyboard requires 2 taps for punctuation, including periods. Americans (and iirc especially younger ones) use more iPhones than Android phones (don't know about other countries, but OP indicated in a comment that they're in the US). I'm not some old guy saying the youngsters are just lazy, but I do think the iPhone keyboard is a factor in how text-based communication has evolved.