Is it The End For Full Stops?

After a week in the office writing reports and emails, I sent a casual text to my daughter. Her response — “Why so formal?” or to be exact “FRL”. I do not write in text slang, which I know she finds irritating. A text from Mum means reading an essay. I prefer to write in full but in this particular text, my crime… a full stop!

Many people today, especially the younger generation, view using correct grammar in text messages as being overly formal, maybe even a tad passive-aggressive, and well quite frankly rather rude! A study by Binghamton University (2015) seemed to back this up. They found that text messages ending with a full stop are seen as less sincere than the same message without a full stop.

When we text the younger generation it might be time to drop everything we ‘think’ we know about grammar and chill out a little. Personally, I don’t think I could stop using ‘full stops’ — it just kind of happens. If I don’t do it I know there will be almost a compulsive urge to do so. Texting my daughter in this new style without full stops or even using full words is going to take some practice!

The only reason I abbreviated text messages in my youth was down to being charged per character. These limits may no longer apply but I guess the text slang tradition remains.

Although here’s a twist as my daughter will sometimes ‘full stop’ when texting back to me! “How come you can do this and not me?” I ask her. Well, it turns out there is a reason for this and it’s down to respect. She sees me as the elder, which I am so she will full stop me, but if I full stop her it’s rude.

Ironically a few days later I was reading an article in The Independent that highlighted that young people feel that the “inclusion of a formality in casual communication is unnerving”. This has made me realise that the whole debate on full stops is very real. There is a right and wrong way of using them and how you use them reveals a lot about your age.

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The formal full stop

I remember my English Teacher at school making me read a story that I had written — I had forgotten my full stops! “Where you feel you need to breathe maybe that’s a good place for a full stop,” she said. I have always remembered this. I think she would be horrified by the new rules of modern texting!

“There’s a tendency for people to believe that the rules they learned in school are fixed and unchangeable… but that’s not how society works. The fashions are different from when you were in school, words are different and punctuation can be different too.” — Gretchen McCulloch, Canadian linguist and author of Because of the Internet.

According to The Independent, there is some good news as the full stop isn’t completely eradicated…

“The mid-text full stop is still fair game. Only when it is the last character in a message does the full stop assume its tonal heft”.

I do get this as I speak to my friends very differently from those in my professional life. when I am more formal in text messages I can now see why it may come across as cold, distant, and even passive-aggressive. People prefer the human me, not a robotic me.

Another study by Linguists Naomi Baron and Rich Ling (2007) believed that “the act of sending a message coincides with sentence-final punctuation” and that “text speak” is analysed as “a form of situational code-switching”. This means we alter our words and even grammar depending on who we are communicating with.

What the heck does this mean for the future of the full stop?

As the intuitive conventions of casual written language become more widespread, the official rules will begin to adapt. — Max Harrison-Caldwell

Not using full stops the casual text shows you are more relaxed with the recipient. It’s still important to use appropriate grammar for articles, academic journals, professional emails, reports, and blah, blah, blah, but when you are with friends drop the formality. I have recently learned it’s one text per thought which is basically a sentence and the send button is the new full stop. So, drop the full stop to knock 10–20 years off your age.

With all that in mind, it’s time to text my daughter to tell her…

“TY n no full stop”

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References:

Are full stops at the end of texts rude? Young people think so - The Independent

No More Periods in Texting. Period. - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

I’m writing this with no full stops so as not to seem aggressive | Times2 | The Times

(PDF) Text Messaging and IM Linguistic Comparison of American College Data (researchgate.net)

Texting insincerely: The role of the period in text messaging - ScienceDirect

Is the full stop rude when used on WhatsApp? - BBC News