Your Favorite Forum Quotes

[Scott5114]

Heh. I'm second in charge and I'm pushing 50. My boss is in his early 60s. We're both set in our ways and we aren't going to–and don't have to–change just because someone born during the Clinton Administration doesn't understand basic punctuation.

The problem is that they understand it in a different way than you do. "." is a dot and has no inherent meaning. We generally agree that it ends sentences. We also tend to agree that it serves as a decimal point, but there are entire countries that disagree with that. Is it really any wonder some people disagree with the sentence-ending meaning too?

[thspfc]

I've come to read texts differently based on the age of the person writing them. A period in a text from my grandma is normal, but a period in a text from a friend would make me wonder what I've done to set them off.

[1995hoo]

Heh. I'm second in charge and I'm pushing 50. My boss is in his early 60s. We're both set in our ways and we aren't going to–and don't have to–change just because someone born during the Clinton Administration doesn't understand basic punctuation.

The problem is that they understand it in a different way than you do. "." is a dot and has no inherent meaning. We generally agree that it ends sentences. We also tend to agree that it serves as a decimal point, but there are entire countries that disagree with that. Is it really any wonder some people disagree with the sentence-ending meaning too?

Well, that's sort of the point, pretty much as thspfc notes. Doesn't matter how the 20-somethings interpret it among yourselves. Assuming that your workplace supervisors are angry at you simply because they end a message with a period is not reasonable in context. (We're not going to text-message subordinate employees to set up a time before calling them on the phone, either.)

[Scott5114]

Heh. I'm second in charge and I'm pushing 50. My boss is in his early 60s. We're both set in our ways and we aren't going to–and don't have to–change just because someone born during the Clinton Administration doesn't understand basic punctuation.

The problem is that they understand it in a different way than you do. "." is a dot and has no inherent meaning. We generally agree that it ends sentences. We also tend to agree that it serves as a decimal point, but there are entire countries that disagree with that. Is it really any wonder some people disagree with the sentence-ending meaning too?

Well, that's sort of the point, pretty much as thspfc notes. Doesn't matter how the 20-somethings interpret it among yourselves. Assuming that your workplace supervisors are angry at you simply because they end a message with a period is not reasonable in context. (We're not going to text-message subordinate employees to set up a time before calling them on the phone, either.)

I'm 32, so my role in life is to serve as a translator between the fogeys and the whippersnappers.

[1995hoo]

Heh. Last year my cousin wore a t-shirt on his birthday that said "I am 49 + 🖕." (In case the graphic doesn't display, it's a middle finger gesture.) I just may have to get a shirt like that this coming year.

[formulanone]

The smallest punctuation mark is driving people batty.

I guess if a microscopic virus can shatter the ethos of half our country, I suppose it makes sense in this timeline.

[hbelkins]

I use punctuation marks, including periods, in texts because it's proper English. I have no sinister implications in doing so, therefore I am not responsible for anyone else's incorrect inferences.

But overall, passive-aggressiveness gets a bad rap.

[Scott5114]

I think consistency is really the key thing, too. If you know that someone tends to take the time to punctuate and capitalize their sentences properly, then that's just how they write. If someone who habitually types all lowercase with no punctuation suddenly adds them to a message, that is significant. The problem is the first time you correspond with someone by text, you don't really know what their "usual style" is.

[formulanone]

Maybe the 。will seem less serious (it's called the kuten in Japanese)。Or more serious, I don't know anymore。

[1995hoo]

The smallest punctuation mark is driving people batty.

....

Little Johnny can tell you just how important that punctuation mark is.

One day, the teacher asked her students to write the most important symbol in the world on the blackboard. Little Suzy drew a heart and said that love makes the world go 'round. Little Stevie drew a dollar sign and said how everyone does everything for money. Then Little Johnny walked up, took the chalk, put a dot on the blackboard, and went back to his seat.

The teacher was puzzled. "Johnny, what is that dot supposed to be?"

"That's a period."

Now the teacher was even more confused. "How can a period be the most important symbol in the world?"

"Well, I don't know, but this morning during breakfast my sister said she was missing one. Then my father started cussing, my mother started crying, and we found out the man next door had shot himself."

[hbelkins]

In a similar vein, capitalization is the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse and helping your uncle jack off a horse.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I wrote a story called Let's Eat Grandma dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.

[skluth]

I wrote a story called Let's Eat Grandma dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.

I guess we don't need to invite Elon. He's already here.

[Max Rockatansky]

I wrote a story called Let's Eat Grandma dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.

I guess we don't need to invite Elon. He's already here.

Cannibalizing Elon Musk would probably make a lot of people happy around these parts I'm gathering.

[1995hoo]

I wrote a story called Let's Eat Grandma dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.

I guess we don't need to invite Elon. He's already here.

Cannibalizing Elon Musk would probably make a lot of people happy around these parts I'm gathering.

What are you going to do with the parts once you finish gathering them?

[Max Rockatansky]

I wrote a story called Let's Eat Grandma dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.

I guess we don't need to invite Elon. He's already here.

Cannibalizing Elon Musk would probably make a lot of people happy around these parts I'm gathering.

What are you going to do with the parts once you finish gathering them?

Wasn't that why Simon Belmont resurrected Dracula in Castlevania 2?  Didn't Simon go through the effort of gathering Dracula's body parts just so he could kill him again?

[webny99]

I wrote a story called Let's Eat Grandma dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.

I guess we don't need to invite Elon. He's already here.

Cannibalizing Elon Musk would probably make a lot of people happy around these parts I'm gathering.

What are you going to do with the parts once you finish gathering them?

I think the only appropriate answer here is... build a fire around which to cannibalize?

[Max Rockatansky]

I wrote a story called Let's Eat Grandma dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.

I guess we don't need to invite Elon. He's already here.

Cannibalizing Elon Musk would probably make a lot of people happy around these parts I'm gathering.

What are you going to do with the parts once you finish gathering them?

I think the only appropriate answer here is... build a fire around which to cannibalize?

I mean, if the end game of opening up an Elon Musk thread is to trick him into some sort of trap where he'll be cannibalized around a campfire by forum members who am I to object?

[hotdogPi]

Auto-formatting strikes again!

ConnDOT has identified cheaper solutions for the problems at Exits ¾ and ⅞.

Maybe don't have so many exits that you have to number them this way?

[1995hoo]

I wrote a story called Let's Eat Grandma dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.

I guess we don't need to invite Elon. He's already here.

Cannibalizing Elon Musk would probably make a lot of people happy around these parts I'm gathering.

What are you going to do with the parts once you finish gathering them?

Wasn't that why Simon Belmont resurrected Dracula in Castlevania 2?  Didn't Simon go through the effort of gathering Dracula's body parts just so he could kill him again?

No idea. Never heard of Castlevania 2. I was just continuing the theme of noting how missing punctuation changes a sentence's meaning.

[Max Rockatansky]

I wrote a story called Let's Eat Grandma dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.

I guess we don't need to invite Elon. He's already here.

Cannibalizing Elon Musk would probably make a lot of people happy around these parts I'm gathering.

What are you going to do with the parts once you finish gathering them?

Wasn't that why Simon Belmont resurrected Dracula in Castlevania 2?  Didn't Simon go through the effort of gathering Dracula's body parts just so he could kill him again?

No idea. Never heard of Castlevania 2. I was just continuing the theme of noting how missing punctuation changes a sentence's meaning.

Yes, caught that.  I was curious to see where the conservation regarding cannibalizing Elon Musk might go given he's the subject of a current Off Topic board thread.

[kphoger]

2. In most of these contexts, users place more of a premium on fast transmission of messages rather than grammatical correctness. Therefore, slower typers eschew things like end marks and capitalization to transmit messages faster, while faster typers leave them off out of a desire to not stick out (nobody wants to be a square). If the user base doesn't have real keyboards, adding punctuation can be awkward, so there is additional pressure to drop it.

There was a time in my life when I typed online in all lowercase.  If I recall correctly, it was around the time I got into chatting on mIRC.  So yeah, that might explain it.

I think consistency is really the key thing, too. If you know that someone tends to take the time to punctuate and capitalize their sentences properly, then that's just how they write. If someone who habitually types all lowercase with no punctuation suddenly adds them to a message, that is significant.

You may have noticed that I use all sorts of punctuation on here, from colons to dashes.  So, if you see a post of mine that has no capital letters and no punctuation, then you can be certain I was acting at a whole new level of snark.

[Takumi]

I would buy a Finland-owned island to antipode of Helsinki (60.10S 155.4W).

Sitting on a cool 29k USD?

Typo. I meant "build".

Sitting on a cool 29k USD?

[skluth]

I would buy a Finland-owned island to antipode of Helsinki (60.10S 155.4W).

Sitting on a cool 29k USD?

Typo. I meant "build".

Sitting on a cool 29k USD?

Nice. We need an actual target island when we crash our old satellites in the South Pacific. Not a floating one from Taco Bell.

[Max Rockatansky]

Unbelievable.

If only it really were unbelievable.

That's sure a lot of flying for someone with aspirations to drive 2,000,000 miles.  But hey, why not buy the entourage holiday flights when you have $29,000 in liquid cash assets?

It's actually 26,000 now, car expenses hot me hard this year. But I rarely fly. My last flight was over 9 years ago. Charlotte was originally going to be a road trip but I changed my mind.

So, all this bouncing around on flights when a trip behind the wheel would have likely taken 10-12 hours to complete depending on when you left.  Had your flight gone to plan how much time would you really have been saving?  Seems like the easier thing to do would have been to get on the road before sunrise (weather permitting) to get out to I-81 and I-77.

Nah I don't get up early for road trips, but had it gone normally, I would have been there 3:55 ish whereas driving would have taken at least 9 hours. Add in a long half hour rest stop and it may have been 10 hours (I can only go about 6-7 hours of driving right now before needing food/bathroom..etc). My main point in going there wasn't for the driving, it was for riding Fury325.

1.  Epic statement from the young adult who must have some serious leverage on his parents to enjoy getting them to pay thousands of dollars to avoid a minor road trip inconvenience.

2.  Also, do we have a new challenger for title of "who can hold their pee the longest in the car?"