I've noticed an increasing number of my email correspondents using no
punctuation other than improperly employed ellipses (...) in their
messages. What are the reasons for this practice? An aversion to
proper punctuation? An ignorance of proper punctuation? Laziness? An
affinity for telegraphese? A desire to emulate Gertrude Stein, James
Joyce, and e e cummings? (Yes, I know none of them used ellipses, but
my elliptic correspondents appear to want to emulate the stream of
consciousness style of the first two and the lack of capitalization
and punctuation characteristic of the last.) Why do so many find it so
hard to craft complete, properly punctuated sentences?

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Clarification of Question by nautico-ga on 24 Aug 2004 10:59 PDT

I think we've beat this subject to death, so, if one of the official
GA researchers among you commenters would make your comment your
answer, we'll...like...you know...put it to bed.

Because we weren't taught in school (just a guess).

I suspect the answer is not that we weren't taught in school. 
Virtually all school systems teach proper grammar and punctuation.  It
is not necessarily enforced in classes other than English class,
though.  More likely, it is a combination of laziness (or desire for
more efficiency, if you prefer), lack of practice, lack of typing
skills (I refuse to use keyboard as a verb, although others are
welcome to if they so choose), and lack of feedback on improper usage.
 Lastly, the internet seems to foster poor grammar, punctuation and
spelling.  This is largely due to chat rooms and IM, where the urge is
to get the communication off as fast as possible to avoid being left
behind.  This spills over into other realms of communication, such as
e-mail.

Ultimately, it may also involve evolution of the language.  The
English language is a wonderfully fluid entity serving the purpose of
communication.  As long as the message is being communicated
accurately, it doesn't matter how perfectly punctuated it is.  Indeed,
it is common to see beautifully constructed sentences being used
specifically to confuse or misconvey a message.

Of course, one has to keep in mind the implied messages one
inadvertently sends by way of non-standard punctuation and spelling.

Regarding the ellipses specifically, I don't know why this punctuation
has become so popular...

I know people who *can* write a well-written letter, with proper
punctuation, but choose not to when writing emails. So, I think
laziness is the real culprit. We tend to use email as a quick way of
communicating; we want to dash off notes quickly. Many people don't
even want to take the time to use a spell checker, even.

Kriswrite

I like ac67's comment: perfect punctuation is not necessary. I pride
myself on vocabulary, clear writing, and yes, punctuation. Yet, I am
an habitual user of the ellipse in typing emails. Why? I am a poor
typist...the ellipse provides a pause for thought, without returning
to the beginning and having to  construct an elegant sentence. Thus,
in casual writing, why be concerned? In serious, well-crafted writing
it should be avoided.
monroe22

It's a real shame more people aren't more clear in their use of
English. Reading a sentence like "so were r u goin for ur vacation
this yr" takes more effort than "so, where are you going for your
vacation this year?" which most of us can read easily.

Mobile phones and internet messaging don't help matters. It really
annoys me to see teens using language like this (taken from an actual
forum posting):

"peeps do respect. u r 15 u need to losen up omg. its th way i am so
if u don't like thn u will hav to get use to it".

from http://community.channel4.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=162603557&f=7376079911&m=8086011211

This is the next generation, people. What will the English language be
like in 50 years with people like this around?

The over reliance on emoticons and abbreviations (LOL, OMG, ROTFL,
etc.) is also annoying to me. The reason given for using these things
is always that it helps to prevent misunderstandings in a non-verbal
medium. Excuse me? Have we not been using the written word for
communication for thousands of years? Suddenly the internet comes
along and we all need little abbreviations and smily faces to
understand each other? When we read a historical document such as
Samuel Pepys' diary we can understand him. He didn't need to write
"omg dude im so plzd wiv my diry lol ;)" to make himself clear did he?

As far as punctuation goes I've kind of given up on seeing the
apostrophe used properly but a comma, semi-colon or even an
honest-to-goodness full-stop (period) would be nice to see from time
to time, if only for nostalgia's sake.

I would accept the IM- and chat room-fostered reason, if it weren't
for the fact that most of my ellipses-dependent correspondents have
never seen the inside of the latter or IM'ed with anyone.

I'm more persuaded by the laziness reason, but I think there's another
related reason. Lots of folks who receive ellipses laden messages say
to themselves "Hey, why don't I do that, too? It looks so easy, and
then I won't have to be concerned about committing some insignificant
punctuation gaffe that would surely be noted by my pendantic friends."
And finally another possible reason: "i wanna be a cool member of 21st
century cyberspace...free wheeling...unencumbered by rules...my
friends have got the right idea here...by george i'm going to join
them...."

I think the reason is that e-mail text tends, in practice, to emulate
spoken words rather than penned words; the ellipsis tend to get used
to indicate a pause for thought, to indicate that the author is
"trying to think of the right word", etc. The ellipsis is attempting
to show hesitation on the part of the author, for one reason or
another, or to indicate the cadence of their "speech". There isn't
really another type of punctuation that lends itself to this usage:
the period is too final, the comma not terminal enough, and the colon
and semicolon too formalized in their usage. Besides, the use of
ellipses to indicate "continued momentarily" is already
well-established in certain texts (think comic books, where a single
sentence might be broken up over two or more word balloons).

-smudgy.

Stated otherwise, the ellipsis is the email equivalent of "ya know."

I am guilty as charged. I think part of it with me is that I can type
faster than I can think and I often use "..." while I am thinking
about what to write next. I write a staggering number of emails (and
online posts) everyday and to properly format and puncuate them...
besides has it ever killed anyone? :P

                                  ^
                                  |
                            classic example

hehehe... sorry I just had to do it. (there it is again). OK, I
promise to stop now. :P

I must confess I'm puzzled as to why one feels compelled to strike the
period key repeatedly while thinking through his or her next sentence.
Why not simply gaze at the wall?

I too am guilty as charged:(

However, when using my business e-mail with co-workers and management,
I always try to be as professional as possible. Sometimes its real
hard to do, as I have caught myself many times with things such as :
"r u goin for a break"?

Great topic of the current times!!!

Steph53

Here's something interesting on the subject:

"In Japanese manga, the ellipsis by itself represents speechlessness,
usually as an admission of guilt or a response to being dumbfounded as
a result of something that another person has just said or done. The
growing popularity of manga worldwide has extended this convention
beyond the borders of Japan."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis

I think it's style...but maybe they're practicing three-dot journalism...

http://www.gallerybooks.com/bkm/bkm70403.htm

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/1996/03/31/SC22615.DTL

http://www.ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech/1997-January/012701.html

I agree with some of the comments above that stress differences
between informal and formal writing. I'm not offended by this in
informal e-mails, just as I don't think about poor grammar or
pronunciation that much in informal conversation.  However, in the
business arena, I expect more, and tend to be a little more concerned
if the correspondence is full of errors, just as I would be if a
newscaster, for example, was constantly using poor grammar and
mispronouncing words.