🤔 Ending a text message in a period is passive aggressive ( ? )

[phil19034]

PaulinVA:

Apparently one space is now enough

@PaulinVA, you aroused my curiosity. When did book publishers switch from double to single spacing after a period? I was just looking at some older books on my shelves, and the change was evidently something that happened quite slowly. I have a book published by the Viking Press in 1946 that already used single spacing, while a couple of volumes in the Loeb Classical Library, both published in 1965, still used double spacing. How long double spacing remained in use after that, I don’t know.

When the Millennials or Gen Z started complaining too much…

 

[Pattylt]

This is me, too! Though I don’t remember my typing teachers name.

I don’t know if I COULD stop using a period at the end of a sentence! Double spacing after the period is so drilled into my finger memory that trying to not do it would take considerable effort. When typewriters were the only way to get words on paper besides handwritten notes, everyone took typing class in high school and we had drill upon drill of double spacing. Plus, she loved to drill us with words that had q’s, p’s, z’s because it forced us to use our weak pinky fingers! Oh, the memories!

 

[BartholomewB]

When the Millennials or Gen Z started complaining too much…

Do Millennials and Gen Z still read books that are printed on paper, that they have to take down from a shelf and put back again afterwards, and with pages that they have to turn over by holding a corner between their thumb and forefinger? I was just reading on another thread about kids in school who never learned to read handwriting …

 

[Pattylt]

That seems to be a worldwide phenomenon. I wonder what the connection is between practicing medicine and lacking the ability to write legibly. Mysterious forces are at work!

It comes from having to write copious notes during lectures and while going on rounds. I know many doctors and everyone of them claim that the medical schooling process ruined their handwriting. As a lab worker who often had to interpret what their orders were, they were pretty used to getting calls to translate…only one or two would get upset!

 

[phil19034]

phil19034:

When the Millennials or Gen Z started complaining too much…

Do Millennials and Gen Z still read books that are printed on paper, that they have to take down from a shelf and put back again afterwards, and with pages that they have to turn over by holding a corner between their thumb and forefinger? I was just reading on another thread about kids in school who never learned to read handwriting …

No idea, but my youngest 1st cousin (just graduated from college) never learned cursive in school!!!

He can’t (or couldn’t) read it very well (his mother was a teacher, so she’s taught him a little - but he never learned in school) and never used it.

 

[Bithynian]

I wonder what the connection is between practicing medicine and lacking the ability to write legibly

When I worked as a gerontologist at a hospital that was still using handwritten patient notes (most are transitioning to digital), I noticed that most professionals - whether doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, etc. - all had universally terrible handwriting.

I suspect that it’s largely because, on an immediate day-to-day basis, the quality of the handwriting doesn’t especially matter: much of what was written in our patient notes was based on a district-wide system of shorthand that abbreviates various conditions and their changes into short, distinct phrases.

So a phrase like:

Pt reports ↑HTN; Hx THR(L) 5/12, ? Fn OT.

Would mean ‘The patient reports increased hypertension. He or she has a medical history of a left total hip replacement 5 months ago. Can the occupational therapist query his or her functional capacity?’

The only area where clear, neat handwriting was insisted upon was in respect to numbers.

 

[Mary888]

.

 

[BartholomewB]

The only area where clear, neat handwriting was insisted upon was in respect to numbers.

… So the nurses will know the doctor has prescribed, say, 25 of something … But of what? Hmmm.

 

[Bithynian]

… So the nurses will know the doctor has prescribed, say, 25 of something … But of what? Hmmm.

I could sometimes hear ‘Oi! What’s this then that he wrote in here?’ being yelled across the ward.

On the other hand, all the neuropsychologists I’ve met have had wonderful handwriting. I suspect it’s largely because their reports and clinical notes - by necessity - must be complete sentences.

 

[Pattylt]

This is where nurses save lives! Even if the number is clear, if it doesn’t match up to usual dosaging, the nurses will call for verification. Our docs went through a grumbling phase when they were forbidden to use shorthand for drug names anymore… too many were just too similar to each other. Now, it’s all done by computer entry and they can still pick the wrong name. Nurses are the second line of defense and the pharmacists are the third! Questioning orders is so common as to be expected!

 

[Hodos]

Punctuation, the scourge of civil society.

 

[Niblo]

Guy walks into a bar and asks the bartender, ‘what’s the WiFi password?’

The bartender replies, ‘you need to buy a beer first.’

So the guy buys a beer, and asks again, ‘what’s the WiFi password?’

The bartender replies, ‘you need to buy a beer first, all lowercase, no spaces or punctuation.’ (Anon).

 

[EricF]

They can claim it has changed all they want to, but even the computer programmers know the truth. Why else would it automatically insert a period after a double space?

 

[Pattylt]

Q.E.D.

How could anyone argue with that!

 

[Katie777]

Didnt read the whole thread but as a mom of 3 phone users–never use a period-

 

[F_Marturana]

I buy books for the kids still.

In my mom opinion, it’s better for their eyes.

 

[BartholomewB]

Better for their minds, too, I think!

 

[felsguy]

This is what happens when grammar and punctuation isn’t taught in school.

:clap:t2:

Just as bad as when this happens?

 

[pnewton]

I always write in cursive.

I sometimes think in cursive, like now, but I translate it to text.

I recommend anyone who objects to common punctuation be sent a quote from the Catechism on how to avoid rash judgement.

End with an exclamation point!

 

[Lee3]

You know, the bigger issue for me here is that we have many people who have lost their jobs to Covid, yet somebody is still paying this “academic” to over-analyse this nonsense.
Misunderstandings happen everyday and will continue, both in real life communications and in text message.

Is it that big of a deal that we have money to throw away for people to make an occupation out of this?

Btw, I’m a millennial and periods are fine.
Maybe a but strange in text messages where we usually written lazily, but really, who cares?