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 ???!!!

@NotJackieWeaver

Good. You are not dogmatic enough to be in pedants’ corner OP have some flowers in square brackets

Merci beaucoup !

Yes, that did occur to me - if these people who put random spaces after brackets tried that with the emojis none of them would work!

I have a problem with “obligated” when “obliged” has fewer letters and syllables.
There, I’ve said it.

“if these people who put random spaces after brackets tried that with the emojis none of them would work”

@katy1213

And a rogue semi-colon. But I could live with all of the above if only Mumsnetters could get to grips with their pronouns. Me and her went - me and him did whatever - aarrgghh. And then, bizarrely, something will be given to DH and I!

I can't decide which of "he gave it to DH and I" or "he gave it to DH and myself" I hate more.

@MountainDweller

Adding re French - I think in Word it only leaves a half space, which is more 'correct' and less obvious.

Plutôt élégant de MS "Mot", en fait.

“Me and Bob did x” is fine, it comes from natural children’s speech.

the rogue “I” and “myself” are different and worse.

@Puffalicious

Whilst we're here folks, why are adverbs disappearing? Everyone these days are told they did brilliant. . It's on TV/ films all the time.

I am continually correcting people on podcasts, TV, and in songs. I must seem like a (more) crazy person saying 'ly' every now and again. Also correcting 'me and x' or 'x and myself'. Thankfully I live alone.

@NotJackieWeaver

“Me and Bob did x” is fine, it comes from natural children’s speech.

the rogue “I” and “myself” are different and worse.

Totally.

At least "Me and Bob did x..." is natural and unpretentious. "Myself and Bob went to the shops," just makes you sound like a twat.

While we’re at it, I do wish people would sort out “bear” and “bare”. And “reins” and “reigns”. Is it too much to ask?

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)

Are bracketing commas around ‘in your list’ correct? Seems the ‘in your list’ is necessary to the sentence?

@AtlasPine

I use dashes too much - this sort of thing - to extend sentences, sometimes far beyond the level to which they ought to be extended - I have no idea why - laziness perhaps.

You might do it less often if you forced yourself to use the correct dash.

• Hyphen

– En-dash — Em-dash

Coz the latter two are a right bugger to type on my phone. I got so used to using the hyphen for everything I type on my phone, it was creeping into my work texts.

(I'm a business writer and editor, so this is just not acceptable. At all.)

I would lose those commas

@VinylDetective

While we’re at it, I do wish people would sort out “bear” and “bare”. And “reins” and “reigns”. Is it too much to ask?

And "curb" and "kerb" / "cue" and "queue".

Surely you can only "reign it in" if you're, say, the Queen. (Or is it The Queen?)

@VinylDetective

While we’re at it, I do wish people would sort out “bear” and “bare”. And “reins” and “reigns”. Is it too much to ask?

"Bare with me"

No thank you, I will keep my clothes on 😂

Although there is some sense to be found in "free reign" so it's more of an understandable error. All the other mix-ups of rein and reign annoy me though.

I hate myself as much as anyone for the use of lol as punctuation. I think it's a social awkwardness thing, like MUST CLARIFY JOKING in the same way women writing emails add exclamation points to make sure LIGHTHEARTED!

The "free reign” -type examples are fun, am trying to think of others.

@Pukkatea

I hate myself as much as anyone for the use of lol as punctuation. I think it's a social awkwardness thing, like MUST CLARIFY JOKING in the same way women writing emails add exclamation points to make sure LIGHTHEARTED!

Furthermore, you can guarantee that any comment including "lol" will not be remotely amusing.

Au contraire OP, lol.

@CharlieParley - Can you explain briefly about the three different types of dashes, or is it too convoluted and I should go away and Google it?

Thanks NotJackieweaver, as I thought.

@Guylan

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)

Are bracketing commas around ‘in your list’ correct? Seems the ‘in your list’ is necessary to the sentence?

Interesting. The "It's" typo wasn't part of the list, so it might be confusing not to separate out the parenthesis that indicated the location of the second typo which was. If that makes sense...

It serves!

@Dobbyismyfavourite

It serves!

If that's typo-spotting, you're about two and a half hours late, I'm afraid!

Tant pis !

“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)”

If you wanted it simple you’d say
“I know the rogue it's has been spotted but also the semi-colon in your list should come before the and (as we're being pedantic)”

But you wanted to reorder it for your own expression so I’m wrong you’re right, let the commas stand.