The Ellipsis: a series of marks, or dots (usually three) that indicate an ommision of words in the text. It has been used artfully by writers for a long time in order for the reader to be able to use his own imagination instead of being constantly spoon-fed like a baby. However, in recent times, the advent of the internet has resulted in a large number of internet users and others wielding it clumsily (Some don't even know it's proper name, for literature's sake).
Firstly, why does practically everyone call the ellipsis the "dot dot dot thing"? It's called the ellipsis. What a nice name. Secondly, the usage of the ellipsis is supposed to be confined to allowing the reader use his imagination to, say, finish off the end of a chapter of a book himself, not making the reader read the writer's mind!
Ah well. The ellipsis used to be one of my favourite punctuation marks, due to it's awesome glory and subtle guidance. However, due to the overabundance in population, I may have to reconsider, in order to restore the balance to the use of punctuation...
Well, people who use the ellipsis either seem to not really know what they want to say, so they stick it there to leave the reader to fill in the blanks, or they're just not bothered to do it. Or they're just lazy. Meh.
ReplyDeleteTrue. But even then, it seems to me that people are using it even as a substitute for the fullstop.
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