Did I miss some subtle shift in the meaning of a period — which used to be the dullest of punctuation marks?
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Some consider putting a period at the end of a text message to be bad form. I don’t recall what it’s supposed to say about you if you do it, but it’s something negative. The face on the period in the comic presumably connects to that.
I was thinking it was a variant of “The light at the end of the tunnel” which is sometimes an oncoming train. Same with periods–you know you’re going to run into one at the end of a sentence.
Among a select group of youth trying hard to get offended, adding a period to the end of a text conveys a harsh and closed tone, like adding, “Period.”
It’s not that they’re trying to get offended. It’s that when texting, they only use the period if they really want you to see it. They omit it unless they want to emphasize that the conversation is over.
If you use a period when texting them, they don’t know whether you’re using it out of old-person habit or if you’re using it the way they do.
The only person trying hard to get offended is the person who finds that unreasonable.
Powers, I think we have to say there is another group trying to provoke offense over this usage, and that’s the advice and commentary writers, who stand to gain “impressions” with headlines like “Six ways you’re using emojis wrong!” . [Which is just adjacent to this punctuation matter.]
But yes, just about as pointless as “Oh look, he uses two spaces between sentences! Reveals a boomer mentality!”
Comics I Don't Understand 
Some consider putting a period at the end of a text message to be bad form. I don’t recall what it’s supposed to say about you if you do it, but it’s something negative. The face on the period in the comic presumably connects to that.
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I was thinking it was a variant of “The light at the end of the tunnel” which is sometimes an oncoming train. Same with periods–you know you’re going to run into one at the end of a sentence.
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Among a select group of youth trying hard to get offended, adding a period to the end of a text conveys a harsh and closed tone, like adding, “Period.”
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It’s not that they’re trying to get offended. It’s that when texting, they only use the period if they really want you to see it. They omit it unless they want to emphasize that the conversation is over.
If you use a period when texting them, they don’t know whether you’re using it out of old-person habit or if you’re using it the way they do.
The only person trying hard to get offended is the person who finds that unreasonable.
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Maybe that’s why a couple of my young friends don’t continue conversations. I have a new habit to develop. I’ll start now
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Powers, I think we have to say there is another group trying to provoke offense over this usage, and that’s the advice and commentary writers, who stand to gain “impressions” with headlines like “Six ways you’re using emojis wrong!” . [Which is just adjacent to this punctuation matter.]
But yes, just about as pointless as “Oh look, he uses two spaces between sentences! Reveals a boomer mentality!”
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It took me a long time to overcome my two spaces habit. I’ll probably continue to use periods in my texts.
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