Alphanumeric Blog Hop

I thought I was too late to sign up for it because I was a couple days behind on reading Mel’s blog, but then she contacted me and asked if I could do a post about punctuation.

Punctuation?

Yes. Punctuation.

or perhaps I mean:

Yes…punctuation.

The first response is clear cut. Yes. It is about punctuation.

The second is slightly less certain.  Yeeessss. I suppose it is about punctuation, of all things. It’s kinda rambly & disjointed but still, you must admit punctuation is the focus.

Punctuation is very important when communicating on line – we have no sarcasm font or snarky response font – so punctuation helps fill in the gap.

At least for me.

I use ellipses … all the time. Sometimes they mean “and yes, here is the punch line” or “here is the sarcastic bit”.

Usually they just express a general dubiousness about the whole thing, such as in my example, which is in line with their accepted use to suggest faltering or fragmented speech accompanied by confusion, insecurity, distress, or uncertainty. But that definition implies there are no words after the ellipsis…which never happens to me.

I don’t generally bother with their more common accepted use of symbolizing left out parts of quotations. I don’t quote much.

I’m also very fond of parentheses. (I bury all my snarky and wildly tangential comments in them) and then make them small so you can skip them if you want. I also use them correctly to mark off an interjected explanatory or qualifying remark.

But there isn’t much fun in that.

I also like dashes – but hardly ever use them. Dashes, correctly, should be used for confident & decisive pauses.

I’m rarely that confident about things and cannot think of a time I ever paused decisively about anything.

If you have made the decision, what is there to pause about?

Basically my use of dashes is limited to a single sentence:

My nemesis – the SCISSORS!

Which isn’t even an actual sentences because there is no verb, but is correctly using the dash because I am both confident and decisive that the scissors are my nemesis.

(Sr Joan, my high school English teacher would write – in big bold red letters - YES but WHAT ABOUT the scissors???? - if this were an essay. Of course if this were an actual essay there would be longer paragraphs. And she’d write – RAMBLING – in big red letters about halfway through. Lots of my high school essays had the word RAMBLING written on them. Big surprise I’m sure.)

There is a punctuation mark I think the language could use but is missing.

The language needs something to replace the ?!?! combination that expresses incredulity & surprise.

It could also do with some umlauts & accents.

English letters are kinda dull.

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If you are following the hop, you came here from Handmade By Kirsty, and the next stop from here is Heather's Scraps.

In case you have just joined us, here is the whole list of everyone participating in the hop.

I Speak Melsh: http://ispeakmelsh.blogspot.com/
BE Glorious: http://beglorious.blogspot.com/
Captured On Film: http://mrsbeee.blogspot.com/
Chatty Crafty Arty Pig: http://chattycraftyartypig.blogspot.com/
Creating Room: http://creatingroom.blogspot.com/
Curiouser and Curiouser: http://journalofcuriousthings.blogspot.com/
Daily Life - Bits and Pieces: http://www.melissagross.blogspot.com/
Deb's World: http://www.melissagross.blogspot.com/
Den's Crafty Diary: http://deecie.blogspot.com/
From High In The Sky: http://fromhighinthesky.blogspot.com/
Gallo Organico: http://gallorganico.blogspot.com/
Ginger's Life Of Spice: http://gingerslifeofspice.blogspot.com/
Handmade By Kirsty: http://handmadebykirsty.blogspot.com/
Havoc and Mayhem: http://www.havocandmayhem.com/
Heather's Scraps: http://heathers-scraps.blogspot.com/
Helena's Creative Maven: http://helenascreativemaven.blogspot.com/
Holaday's Happy Hearts: http://holadayshappyhearts.blogspot.com/
Jeant-Jinnag: http://jeant-jinnag.blogspot.com/
Just Jimjams: http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/
K's Crafty Corner: http://kscraftycorner.blogspot.com/
Life...As I See It: http://jillconyers.blogspot.com/
{Life Behind The Purple Door}: http://www.lifebehindthepurpledoor.com/
Lisa E Design Blog: http://lisae-design.blogspot.com/
Living Life One Blessing At A Time: http://livinglifeoneblessingatatime.blogspot.com/
Mary's Musings: http://craftycreation.blogspot.com/
Michelle Loves...: http://michellelovesallsorts.blogspot.com/
Obstinate Pursuit: http://obstinatepursuit.blogspot.com/
Over At Our Place: http://overatourplace.blogspot.com/
Paper Turtle: http://paperturtle.blogspot.com/
Peonies and Pennies: http://peoniesandpennies.blogspot.com/
Random Reflections: http://www.kbwalker.blogs.com/
Rosalind Revival: http://rosalindrevival.blogspot.com/
Scrap Dreams: http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com/
Scrappyjacky: http://scrappyjackylive.blogspot.com/
Scrapworthy Lives: http://www.scrapworthylives.com/
Staring At The Sea: http://fiona-staringatthesea.blogspot.com/
Surefiredaisy Says: http://surefiredaisysays.blogspot.com/
This Kalil Life: http://www.kimberlykalil.com/
This Little Life Of Mine: http://tracyscraftycorner.blogspot.com/
Xnomads' Blog: http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog/

Note: If any of the posts aren't up yet, please bear with us - the different time zones and the peculiarity of blogging platforms when it comes to autoposts may mean that one or two posts don't appear on time! If that's the case, come back to this list to pick up from the next blog, but do please pop back and try the other link later, when the post should be there for your enjoyment.