Are full stops passive aggressive?

[Samas]

Are full stops really passive-aggressive now? According to my colleague they are, especially in text messages. Apparently, ending a sentence correctly is no longer “neutral” but somehow comes across as cold or hostile.

yabu= full stops are indeed PA
yanbu= of course they’re not

But the whole point if a language is that we all understand the meaning of a word, or in written language a punctuation mark! When people make up their own rules, they limit their ability to communicate, except with others in the know.

In text messages they can be, in e-mails no, all e-mails should end in a full stop, especially in a business / work context

Nobody is doing either of those things.

My teen DC moan at me for using punctuations and tells me no one uses them anymore. I tell them that all my peers do, and they would think it’s odd if I didn’t.

The DC weren’t amused when I added that at least if they ever get a text from me that didn’t use punctuation then it was either a spam fraud text, or l was in trouble and need their help. 😂

Who made this rule up then? And successfully spread it round so people actually follow it? Maybe they could put their persuasive powers to better use and promote world peace instead!

But those full stops just sometimes appear by mistake when I am typing on my phone, because - well fat fingers and all that.

I usually correct them but the occasional one slips through. It really is nothing to do.with being passive aggressive. I just am shit at typing on my phone

And yes the one above was completely by mistake but I thought I'd leave it as an example.

Hmm, maybe that is passive aggressive. 🤔

Well it shows your DC is a sheep if he doesn't use punctuation just because his friends don't.
If he knows the correct way to communicate is to use punctuation why lower himself to the level of illiterate people who don't?

Not the point I was making.

Now answer the question with a yes or a no.

Is your friend’s name Humpty Dumpty?
No - the only time that PA can be inferred is in something like this: No. Means. No.
She needs to go back to Primary School and re-learn about punctuation!

Oh please God give me strength………

The odd rogue one or two in a long message isn't the same as deliberately.punctuating.every.word.
I'm sure you're fine. 😀

Yes, of course. But the use of a full stop was not the indicator of annoyance, the content was.

My mum used to put a + between each word as she hadn't found the space bar on her phone. 🙈🤣

What the hell is wrong with young people these days? Passive aggressive punctuation? They need to get a grip. I can't deal with this level of pathetic.

I think @AstonUniversityPotholeDepartment explains this well. I would usually use proper punctuation in a longer message but wouldn’t use a full stop after a message that just said ‘no’. I might use an exclamation mark, if there was something to exclaim.

What I think is being missed here (not by Aston but generally) is that ‘No’ on its own is not a sentence. A sentence needs a subject and verb, so ‘ask Anna’, for example, is a fragment in which the subject is implied (as in ‘You should ask Anna’). While it’s typical to use full stops after fragments (once you know the rules, you can break them), I don’t think this typically extends to ‘no’ on its own in a text messaging context.

So, having said above that I find this idea ridiculous, I can actually see occasions when it could be seen as passive aggressive (though not many, to be honest).

My mum cannot text at all.
I do wonder what might appear if she started trying.
She prefers to speak to us but doesn't mind us texting her with info or updates.

You do know that you've used way too many commas in your post, don't you?

In my opinion, of course

.

Haha, it could be hilarious. Like the day my dad discovered emojis. I still don't have a clue what he was trying to say.

No-one made it up as a rule. It's an observation of human behaviour and communication over social media and messaging apps in the English speaking world.

For some reason, people tend not to use full stops on the last ine of a message on WhatsApp, etc. When they do revert to using full stops, the change in behaviour indicates frustration/annoyance/desire to end the conversation.

People (apart from Steve at work!) have eyes and brains and sometimes they use them to identify patterns in human behaviour.

Quite. Your kids aren’t being blinkered ageists.

I just think someone accidentally missed it off if there's no full stop. I certainly don't think the presence of a full stop is aggressive.

People are weird. Just use punctuation normally, folks!

If they stop using punctuation in everyday communication, it's likely to filter through to work, as a pp said. And it doesn't look good.

Phew!!

The only people I know who put full stops at the end of messages are boomers or a couple of my friends who are autistic. The most socially acceptable way of ending a short message is an x, at least among women.

This isn't about emails, it's clearly about texting.

And it seems lots of posters have missed the detail that it's about the full stop at the end of the last sentence in the text message. Full stops in the body of the message don't cause the kids the same anxiety. Apparently