Current location:Earthly Echo news portal > travel
VOX POPULI: Young texters have rendered punctuation marks obsolete
Earthly Echo news portal2024-04-30 13:49:10【travel】3People have gathered around
IntroductionIf punctuation marks could speak, they might remonstrate us, “How could you do this to us now, after
If punctuation marks could speak, they might remonstrate us, “How could you do this to us now, after using us all the time?”
Young Japanese today are said to feel that use of the “full stop” punctuation mark--or “maru” in Japanese--makes social media posts come across as “aloof” or “unsympathetic” in tone.
In fact, young netizens recently decried the use of the period as “maru harassment.”
An example cited was a post that said “Daijobu desu” (literally, “It’s OK”) with a maru.
I am in my 50s. I checked my cellphone’s history and confirmed that I have always used punctuation in all my texts as a matter of course, including those sent to young people.
But not one text I’d received from them was punctuated.
With a jolt, I saw this for what it is--a generation gap.
Wondering if this “no punctuation” phenomenon is peculiar to Japan, I asked my friends in Europe, Southeast Asia and South America.
Apparently, the trend is common in various languages around the world.
A British woman in her 20s said, “Punctuation is not needed in message balloons. The ‘send’ button serves as the full stop.”
And just as in Japan, the period is disdained as giving off an uncaring, authoritarian and grumpy vibe.
Many people end their messages with no period or a dash, she said.
She also told me that while she and most of her contemporaries in their 20s think favorably of the exclamation mark at the end of a message, that is not the case with teenagers, who dislike it as being “coercive.”
As for writing formal emails or responding to messages from her superiors at work, she uses punctuation as an indication of seriousness and formality, she said.
In “Kutoten Omoshiro Jiten” (Fun facts about punctuation) by Masatoshi Orui, I came across an interesting anecdote from about half a century ago.
A well-known Japanese language scholar argued that it is rude to use punctuation in a letter to one’s superior, as this is tantamount to being condescending to the recipient by making the letter easier to understand.
I began to feel sorry for punctuation marks for being subjected to praise and censure, for promoting good manners on the one hand and aiding bad manners on the other.
But since I rely on them every day, I vow to keep using them as I always have. Period.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 16
* *
*Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
Address of this article:http://puertorico.chennaidetectives.net/news-38d799955.html
Very good!(3)
Related articles
- Bruins, Hurricanes, Canucks and Avalanche look to advance to second round of the NHL playoffs
- Vietnam’s ‘Provisional National Government’ offers empty promises, lawyers say — Radio Free Asia
- John Mellencamp hits BACK after shock viral video showed him launch expletive
- Sudan's army chief urges for restoring membership in AU
- Turner hits 2 home runs, Jansen also connects as Blue Jays beat Royals 6
- Esteury Ruiz homers and the A’s beat the Cardinals 6
- Amazon removed Just Walk Out from many of its own stores but wants to sell the system to others
- Hilarious moment cheeky THREE
- Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities
- Sydney boy accused of stabbing 2 clerics showed no signs of radicalization, Muslim leader says
Popular articles
Recommended
Two more people sentenced for carjacking and kidnapping an FBI employee in South Dakota
Days Of Our Lives sees THREE old faces from the 1980s RETURN
Amazon removed Just Walk Out from many of its own stores but wants to sell the system to others
Simon Cowell is lining up a new Britain's Got Talent kids' spin
Goodbye to Scotland's answer to Liz Truss: How Sturgeon's short
Caitlin Clark's Indiana Fever jersey becomes Fanatics' best
Days Of Our Lives sees THREE old faces from the 1980s RETURN
Zardari wins Pakistan's presidential election
Links
- Saudi Arabia sets ambitious tourism goal
- China announces new partners for International Lunar Research Station
- Fireworks show held in Thailand's beach resort Pattaya to promote tourism
- Courtois has surgery after another knee injury
- Yanqing's top destinations to travel around in autumn
- France goalkeeper Mike Maignan injures thigh muscle ahead of the European Championship
- Yang sets national record in women's 100m freestyle
- Huilongwo: a chic and historical block in Xuzhou
- EU tightens visa requirements for Ethiopians over a lack of government cooperation on deportations
- Huilongwo: a chic and historical block in Xuzhou