Parenthesis anguish

[Nunoftheother]

Yes, I am indubitably unreasonable because:

a) This issue is about as inconsequential as it's possible to be and;
b) It should probably be in Pedants' Corner.

But why, why, why do people keep typing a space after the first bracket of a parenthesis? I see it on here at least 50% of the time brackets are used. It's serves no purpose, makes the whole parenthesis look uneven and often leaves orphaned open-bracket symbols forlornly marooned at the end of a line of text. Above all, it's just wrong in every way.

Why have people decided this is de rigueur all of a sudden? Or is it an unfortunate effect of autocorrect?

And, parenthetically, I get just as upset about spaces being left before question marks and exclamation marks. Why ???!!!

My eyes bleed when I see this at the end of posts - xxx

Why are you putting KISSES on the end of a post on an anonymous forum

Inevitably there's a typo in my OP. Prize for the first person who spots it.

@LongPauseNoAnswer

My eyes bleed when I see this at the end of posts - xxx

Why are you putting KISSES on the end of a post on an anonymous forum

Agreed. Even worse when a kiss is used in lieu of punctuation. What's that about, ffs?

@Nunoftheother

Inevitably there's a typo in my OP. Prize for the first person who spots it.

Rogue “it’s”

What do I get?

It’s serves no purpose. Typo found.

One that really bothers me is when people...........

Ffs, an ellipsis is three periods. THREE! Not

@VinylDetective - Correct! (Although arguably only the apostrophe and the 's' are rogue.)

Um, I can offer you a ? Or a . Or ? (Didn't there used to be a chocolate emoji?)

@HowManyToes

One that really bothers me is when people...........

Ffs, an ellipsis is three periods. THREE! Not

Or when people..just separate..random thoughts with...a load of fucking dots..as they spew rambling..quasi-sentences..over the page..

Aargh!

Well, I suppose if you were only referring to the opening bracket YANBU but if you were referring to both brackets YABU not to say parentheses. I also hope your space after Why and before the multiple interrogation marks and exclamation marks was of an ironical nature

@HowManyToes

You beat me to it. Three dots only in an ellipsis.

Multiple exclamation marks. STOP SHOUTING.

'Thank you' is 2 words. Thank you.

@LouiseTrees

It’s serves no purpose. Typo found.

Pipped to the post by VinylDetective. Have a consolation prize:

[quote Nunoftheother]@VinylDetective - Correct! (Although arguably only the apostrophe and the 's' are rogue.)

Um, I can offer you a ? Or a . Or ? (Didn't there used to be a chocolate emoji?)[/quote]
Thank you. I’ll take the 🍰

@Pollypudding

Well, I suppose if you were only referring to the opening bracket YANBU but if you were referring to both brackets YABU not to say parentheses. I also hope your space after Why and before the multiple interrogation marks and exclamation marks was of an ironical nature

I believe - although a linguist might be along to correct me - that a parenthesis refers to the word or phrase enclosed in the brackets (or commas or dashes). Either way, a parenthesis would imply two brackets. Two parentheses would require four. And so on...

Yes, it was indeed ironical !

Yes to all of these. Especially x or lol instead of punctuation or any x or lol at all really. I was taught English in the 1980s and it was all pretty relaxed and significantly less technical than how it is currently taught in schools. I'm certainly no expert. But there are huge swathes of people (mostly under 35) who have been educated but can't be bothered to use punctuation. I'm not talking about people who are dyslexic or weren't educated for various reasons. I'm concerned with people who have 5+ GCSEs and just don't bother trying to write things correctly. Annoying.

Thank you. I’ll take the cake.

Wise choice. And better than taking the .

"lol" used in lieu of punctuation really annoys me.

Actually, just lol in general.

Apparently punctuation is now considered rude or aggressive in texts. Who knew?

Yep
YABU
No meaning is lost by the thing that irks you.
This is just Gordon the Big Engine stuff.

@VinylDetective

Apparently punctuation is now considered rude or aggressive in texts. Who knew?

What? That is bizarre.

I know. Fortunately I never text anyone under 25 so it isn’t a problem!

@Nunoftheother

Inevitably there's a typo in my OP. Prize for the first person who spots it.

I know the rogue it's has been spotted but also, in your list, the semi-colon should come before the and (as we're being pedantic)

I know the rogue it's has been spotted but also, in your list, the semi-colon should come before the and (as we're being pedantic)

Yes, totally agree - thank you!

@NotJackieWeaver

Yep YABU No meaning is lost by the thing that irks you. This is just Gordon the Big Engine stuff.

I agree no meaning is lost, but it does slow down reading speed (ime).

I know language evolves, but if everyone just makes up their own little rules about SPAG then everything loses clarity.

Um, Gordon the Big Engine??

Maybe there’s a lesson in this for you OP.

@NotJackieWeaver

Maybe there’s a lesson in this for you OP.

Ok... Is this also related to Thomas the Tank Engine?