A dedication for Piz

[phoenix_jackson]

In celebration of punctuation day, I would like to forward this to Piz and the rest, who so love -to-hate the illusive ellipses:

I know it’s wrong to use it in such a way, and I know that’s it’s become a crutch, but I must admit that I’ve been having an illegitimate love affair with the ellipses for years now. Surely, I thought, I could find a support group among the many writers who have been similarly led down this particular primrose path of pauses, but alas … none existed.

Not to be dissuaded, I set out and started my own support group called “Ellipses … Anonymous.” I invited everyone to my house at 2000 W. Maple … a place, I must confess, I bought for the address alone … and I served M&Ms in batches of three.

However the people who showed up tended to trail off midway through their stories, or stopped abruptly before staring off into space, which seemed appropriate but really stymied the healing process. It was … daunting.

I found myself wandering the streets that night, talking to myself, binging on one story after another without end, drinking deep from the nectar of incomplete thoughts until … I hit rock bottom.

It had gotten to the point where I couldn’t pause for breath in my prose without automatically hitting dot-dot-dot. I was ravenous … a wild animal on the prowl for a pregnant pause, a thoughtful moment or a half-baked idea so I could swoop in and get my fix. I was putting ellipses where a comma would suffice … ellipses when an em dash would do the trick … ellipses when a yadayadayada would convey the same idea. It was all too much and I collapsed under the pressure.

I woke up the next morning in the gutter outside of a Barnes and Nobles, gripping my beat-up copy of “Love is…” poems and staring in the face of one harsh reality … I needed help.

I got up out of the gutter, flipped open my laptop and started writing … hair of the dog and all that jazz. What I was after was a mantra to get me through the tough spots, those times where it’s just so … tempting (damn!) to use that one, single punctuation, albeit incorrectly. I needed a higher power to see me through, and … amazingly … this little beauty fell out of the sky like a penny … or coin … from Heaven:

God grant me the serenity

To accept the proper uses for the ellipses;

Courage to use it when I should and deny myself when I shouldn’t;

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Doesn’t it seem appropriate, then, that today, National Punctuation Day, would be my quit day? I have decided to go cold turkey. No more ellipses for me. I’m clean and sober starting now of course that means I can’t use any punctuation for fear that the pause in and of itself would throw me headlong into a full blown relapse from which I might never recover until I could once again use my beloved and reliable ellipses just saying the word makes this all the more harder until I simply … break … down.

They say that admitting the problem is half the battle, and I’m counting on that to be true. But right now, I have an inexplicable desire to learn Morse code and eat M&Ms. And besides, as my friend Scarlett once said … “Tomorrow is another day.”

[Pizdzius]

To be very honest it's the first time in my life I've heard of such a day, but I'd be glad if people actually remember about commas and dots every day

I'd be even more glad if they stoped using "..." every now and then.

I don't know why are you dedicating this to me, but thanks ;D
Also I barely understood your essay (maybe because I'm not good with english?)

[Inkster]

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pcleas. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by ilstef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

[Pizdzius]

Originally Posted by Inkster

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pcleas. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by ilstef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

It's vrey old nwes
(it's harder with polish )

[Inkster]

i know it is and i bet it is ^^

[phoenix_jackson]

It's just that you hated ellipses when that someone overused it. Who was that again? That guy who kept copy-pasting song lyrics? Yeah, that guy.

And "HI" to everyone! I'll be back this harvest season. Hope to be seen by you-all.

[Pizdzius]

Yeah that guy. Blargh.

[-Edge-]

ONETTE \o/

Slay the grammar dragons.

[Malik2]

Grammer is a tool to be use capriciously whenever possible.

Like parenthises are usually used to mark off an interjected explanatory or qualifying remark. I prefer to mark off small letter "o"s.

( o ) ( o )

I don't know why.

[Pizdzius]

3=======D~ <- it's a happy face with long eyes and heavy eyebrows.