Some friends and I were out to dinner over this past weekend, and one of them brought up an interesting (if not slightly nerdy) question: if you were a punctuation mark, what would you be?
We talked about it at length, trying first to name all the obvious ones, then delving into the sometimes forgotten symbols.
I’m looking at you, underscore. (It’s also easier now that I have the keyboard in front of me.)
There are a few that we could knock out, right off the bat. For instance, none of us claims to be an exclamation point or a question mark. And a period just seems so boring.
And then it came down to what we were actually saying with our decision. Does the punctuation mark you choose show your public personality? Your inner self? What you want to be, but haven’t quite achieved yet? Yeah, we took it that far.
In the end, Foodie decided that she’d be parentheses, and BNB couldn’t quite make up her mind. “Well, then that makes her a question mark,” another friend said. She disagreed, but still hasn’t decided. The last time I checked, she was toying with the idea of the tilde.
(Update: After talking to BNB this morning she clarified: I think I’ve decided I’m a forward slash (/). Meaning I’m often debating between 2 things, feeling 2 things, wanting a hybrid of both.)
As for me, I opted for the ellipses. I feel that they can indicate either more to come or things left unsaid – sometimes both at once, and two things I’m often guilty of in conversation. I trail off a lot…
Who knew punctuation could be so insightful?
So much more than just three little dots...
And after asking other friends and co-workers, I’m even more curious – if you were a punctuation mark, what would you be? And why?
I would be an asterisk, due to my need for the fine print to truly explain what the hell I mean.
I like that. I think we could all use a little fine print from time to time.
Mmm, ellipses for me as well, and but not so much for the “more to come” bit as much as that there are always things left unspoken.
I wish I were better about the things left unspoken. But then, would I have to change my punctuation mark?
Also, that “and” was a stowaway in my comment.
They’re sneaky like that.
I would either be an asterik for the same reasons JP listed or an exclamation point since I can be pretty hyper and intense sometimes! LOL
I definitely think of exclamation points as very high energy. Hyper’s an excellent word for it.
I’m a comma: Slightly bent, but with a good point.
Sounds like you’ve thought about this before.
justjp stole my answer.* But I could go with parentheses, too (since I’m very parenthetical (appropriately or not.))
*Okay, maybe he had it first.
Very nicely done.
I would like to be a dash, because Dash was in The Incredibles. And because I really am that lame/ridiculous/obvious.
Not because you’re just that awesome? That can’t be it?
Hmmmmm. If I pick the dollar sign, will that be like a fortune cookie and make me rich?
I hear that’s exactly how it works.
Haha, if LiLu picks a dollar sign- then she’s money!
Where’s Rachel to talk about her punctuation mark?
I love semicolons. I think I want to be a semicolon. Usually because I will often end a sentence but I like to leave room open to continue with the next thought that will inevitably follow along a little later.
Is there a crazy mark? cause that would be me.
I Would like to start write post-graduate research on PUNCTUATION MARKS. please help me.
yours faithfully,
I have been on a long quest to find out what “…” was actually called; and here I am! I think it was fate. I have found myself and I am ‘ellipses’!
Thank you!
…
re: of what mike said, this means ” ” quotation marks.
i was wondering at the end of a sentence when people put more than 3 dots, what do they really mean? like what’s in their heart.?