Is punctuation a thing of the past?

[OrchidLass]

I mean even in the simplest ways, like dropping full stops at the end of a sentence? I was looking at a thread yesterday and practically every other post had no full stops and it pissed me off in a thoroughly irrational way! I'm used to seeing (and correcting) this with children, but not usually adults to be honest.

Do I need to put 'lighthearted' here to show that I'm not crying myself to sleep about this every night?

@grey12

There is a Nobel Prize winner book that has a part without punctuation

In texting and in forums like this, I do agree that it is more conversational so writing should reflect that. Example: "oooommmggg!! This you see THAT???!!!!!"

Well, James Joyce seems to have done OK.

DD tells me (often) that it's only "old" people who scattergun digital communication with emojis, and that people her age (17) wouldn't dream of it. Interestingly, about 10-15 years ago, my students told me the same about text message abbreviations. That adults used them thinking it made them hip and cool, when really, it just made you show your age! (There's a logic there I suppose, in that when text messaging started, you paid per character, so ways needed to be found to not spend that extra 4p!)

@RainbowCrayons

DH is an engineer so while he is brilliant at maths he cannot use punctuation to save his life. I have to go through his work reports and add punctuation although I have a feeling his colleagues wouldn't notice if there wasn't any either as long as he got the maths right! Some jobs it's important for but others it's seen as an ancient art!

Engineer here not knowing how to use punctuation means problems in primary school education and it has nothing to do with what area you choose in your teen years

In my university post graduate group we would cringe at the terrible grammar and spelling of some undergrads how did they make it all the way to university?!

The other thing about text speak, is that when text messaging started, it was incredibly cumbersome. I remember a friend showing me how to press a number key on my phone and hold it down for different amounts of time depending on what letter I wanted to type (each number was assigned about 3 different letter).

It was so tedious that I just didn't bother with sending a text for years. No wonder people preferred typing a single letter instead of a whole word.

The advent of smartphones with keyboards and predictive text was a complete game changer. .

I don’t generally punctuate on mumsnet, I’ll obviously put commas in but not generally full stops…and quite often not apostrophes

It has nothing to do with how conscientious i am in real life especially as I would use the correct punctuation in any written form and in emails etc

I use punctuation, maybe not as well as I should.

At work I use punctuation on our instant messenger, a colleague asked me to stop using full stops as it made her feel like I was being aggressive/telling her off.

@cariadlet

The other thing about text speak, is that when text messaging started, it was incredibly cumbersome. I remember a friend showing me how to press a number key on my phone and hold it down for different amounts of time depending on what letter I wanted to type (each number was assigned about 3 different letter).

It was so tedious that I just didn't bother with sending a text for years. No wonder people preferred typing a single letter instead of a whole word.

The advent of smartphones with keyboards and predictive text was a complete game changer. .

Text speak came about because you had 130 characters to convey wtv message you had. And limited funds

@RevolutionRadio

I use punctuation, maybe not as well as I should.

At work I use punctuation on our instant messenger, a colleague asked me to stop using full stops as it made her feel like I was being aggressive/telling her off.

I hope you told her to sod off!

Well, you seem to have decided that commas aren't necessary, so, yes, going by your own writing, probably.
Commas are subjective; you’re obviously a fan, though a bit heavy-handed for my taste. Personally the only change I’d make to the OP is to change ‘like’ to ‘such as’; but that’s grammar, not punctuation.

I’m an editor but my MN posts tend to be sloppier as I’m generally doing it one-handed on my phone while breastfeeding a rotating toddler or trying to cook dinner/placate toddler on ankle/feed cat/etc.

At work, on Teams and email I keep my SPAG on point but I do throw in more exclamations than usual, to lighten my tone.

On here, I scroll past anything unreadable. You can sometimes see straight away how a thread is going to go because the OP is a bit muddled and the responses are going to do that smug, faux-confused thing, which would have been avoided with a bit of re-reading and editing. But honestly, it’s MN: we’re all just bellowing into the mutual void about doorbells and hedges and DHs and recipes and dog poo. Scrolling back up to tweak a post is probably even more of a time-waster than being on here in the first place.

I told her that I wasn't being aggressive, I just liked using proper punctuation and it goes against my instinct to not use it.

Colleague left a while ago, and my new colleague hasn't called my messages aggressive. Although either has anyone else in the wider team.

@burritofan

Well, you seem to have decided that commas aren't necessary, so, yes, going by your own writing, probably. Commas are subjective; you’re obviously a fan, though a bit heavy-handed for my taste. Personally the only change I’d make to the OP is to change ‘like’ to ‘such as’; but that’s grammar, not punctuation.

I’m an editor but my MN posts tend to be sloppier as I’m generally doing it one-handed on my phone while breastfeeding a rotating toddler or trying to cook dinner/placate toddler on ankle/feed cat/etc.

At work, on Teams and email I keep my SPAG on point but I do throw in more exclamations than usual, to lighten my tone.

On here, I scroll past anything unreadable. You can sometimes see straight away how a thread is going to go because the OP is a bit muddled and the responses are going to do that smug, faux-confused thing, which would have been avoided with a bit of re-reading and editing. But honestly, it’s MN: we’re all just bellowing into the mutual void about doorbells and hedges and DHs and recipes and dog poo. Scrolling back up to tweak a post is probably even more of a time-waster than being on here in the first place.

I agree with your final two paragraphs, which is why when these faux wide-eyed "aren't other people thick" threads are started, I do tend to jump in. Because I'm not at my day job (teaching English and writing for a publisher) but neither is the poor sod who missed out a full stop. And, of course, it's always fun to spot Muphry in action which is why I couldn't help noticing the OP's own grasp of punctuation. Glass houses etc.

@Geamhradh I did need to put 'lighthearted' in my post then! 😊 Your posts seem to have taken this thread very seriously. A serious discussion really wasn't my intention.

This is in no way a faux wide-eyed "aren't other people thick" thread. I'm surprised you have taken it that way, but there you go. It's just a thread on Mumsnet, on a wet Saturday morning, nothing more. 🤷

Disclaimer I am not a fan of the Oxford comma or over-punctuation.

I really don't understand the aggression seen by the recipient of a full stop or a question mark.

Schools definitely still teach it and even more so than when I was a kid (as homeschooling showed me). Writing on phones and small devices means you forgo grammar

I really don't understand the aggression seen by the recipient of a full stop or a question mark.

Nor me, @Hadalifeonce, so bizarre! 🤣

This is on my seminar room wall...

Honestly some of the threads on here make me squirm. There is absolutely no standard of grammar whatsoever in some, no well constructed sentences and everything just reads like a mess! So I understand your frustration OP.

I know a primary school teacher who doesn't seem to jnie punctuation exists. OMG her texts are god-awful. Trying to make out what the hell she's trying to say requires at least two readings. I despair for the poor children taught by her.

@Ironfloor269

I know a primary school teacher who doesn't seem to jnie punctuation exists. OMG her texts are god-awful. Trying to make out what the hell she's trying to say requires at least two readings. I despair for the poor children taught by her.

I know a couple who don't know the difference between 'your' and 'you're' or 'there'/'their'/'they're' and, quite frankly, it's quite scary that these people are supposedly educating our children.

I don't expect them to be perfect but I expect them to know the basics.

@underneaththeash

Some people are just very poorly educated, or a troll and some just can't be arsed. You're hardly going to be conscientious as an individual in life if you can't even be bother to put a full stop. It took me ages to work out what Iv meant!

You're hardly going to be conscientious as an individual in life if you can't even be bother to put a full stop.

*bothered

You're hardly going to be conscientious as an individual in life if you can't even be bothered to read your own comment before hitting ‘post’.