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Flashdance... What A Feeling, Mankind is not a circle with a single center but an ellipse with two focal points of which facts are one and ideas the other - Victor Hugo, Oops! ...I Did It Again, What's THIS For...!- KJ
Ellipses.
I love a good ellipse, don’t get me wrong, I think they deserve as many sticky buns as a comma, full stop or semi, (colon that is, calm yourself). However sometimes . . . they irritate esme. In fact I have stopped following some people because the answer to any and every single comment I left ended with an ellipse. It went like this;
Esme – “This tickled me highly, I really enjoyed it. smiles”
ellipse nut – “Thanks . . .”
Esme – “I had no idea this artist even existed! Thank you for the heads up.”
ellipse nut – “You’re welcome . . .”
The replies read as sarcasm to me. They weren’t, probably, though if so everyone was getting it. It sounds rather “Gee thanks”. No doubt about it, and even if they were aiming to be as sweet as sugar, it’s impossible for me to read it any other way. Within stories or poems they can work wonderfully, and are almost a necessity at times, but it’s easy to overuse them and I’m sure I’ve done that myself before now. And when they do work, they can make all the difference, however, when they don’t its glaringly obvious (to this crazy mystic meg in the Clouds anyway).
None I follow at present do this, so set your wrinkled and furrowed brows at rest. If you’re reading this, you use them with aplomb and I have no tofu with you (*beef being out of the question) and the others are long behind me by now. But I come across it often.
I don’t cut any noses off to spite a Cloud Dancer’s face mind you – if I was truly keen on the writing, I would stay and just get very irritated with them in silence forever. Hahahahaha . . .
We must all have certain writing styles and uses of grammar (of which that isn’t) that we come across which grate. I suspect some folks have smashed their monitors to smithereens (great word) after coming upon yet another of esme’s – cartwheel/stickybun/bananas/wombats – nonsense, but they wont hang about, and as long as they don’t tell me about it, I’m happy as Larry’s twin sister.
How about you? You there! – points at you as you duck out the door to make a brew and hide
(Feel free to now pepper your comments with dots folks – *nods)
Esme's Cloud 
I like your energy and your ability to stay light hearted even when something is bothering you. Be well . Hugs
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Thank you Scottie. If you want to stay afloat you must blow up your own balloons. (a brand new quote invented right now by esme!) It’s true mind you.
You be well too over there
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Great post…
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There’s always one . . .
Hahahahahaha
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I don’t think you want my picky corrections somehow …
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Hahahaha, you’re right, and I thank you for holding back. smiles it’s more in your face if you’re a professional though I’m sure.
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How could you possibly find time between taking and then taking more taxpayer money? All that taking must be utterly exhausting!
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It’s an absolute bloody epidemic in the blogosphere and it totally drives me nuts, Esme. Just about every other damned comment that I get at my site is peppered with them, and I diligently strip them all out before approving them. Still, I want to scream at people who do that: “Look, no one’s interested in your stream-of-consciousness twaddle, what you may or may not be feeling and as signalled or implied by your incessant trailing silences; say what you have to say, say it clearly, and spare me the ruddy ellipses – you’re a writer after all, damn it!” And another thing, two un-spaced periods does not an ellipsis constitute, nor do two spaced ones, and certainly four, five, and six do not. An elegant ellipsis should be displayed precisely as you have demonstrated in your piece; that is to say, three spaced periods, themselves both following a space, and preceding a space. People who abuse the venerable ellipsis should be shot dead and killed, then have their squishy bits stomped upon for a while; you know, like Steve Martin does in that film where he dresses up as a cowboy at a kids party.
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When I first came across you Hariod you were telling Doobster that you wouldn’t follow any blogs where the writer had sloppy grammar or couldn’t spell properly, so I thought “Well, that’s esme out. H would have a nervous breakdown watching esme’s interesting but not quite correct form of scribbling”. Hahahahaha. Thankfully our mutual fabulousness over-rode any fears on that score, but I was still heartily amused by you editing all your comments so it didn’t look like any idiotic illiterates were following you. Who knows what words are sneaked into our mouths?!! No. I jest, I know tis only the grammar. (Probably). And to be fair I have corrected very clear mistakes when I know the person well enough to be sure they’ve made just that – a mistake. I’ll also take out anything I feel might cause dissent between folks upon the Cloud, is rude without being amusing, or just plain filthy. This rarely happens mind you – waves at Professor Taboo laughing a lot
The following Hariod, is hilarious – “I want to scream at people who do that: “Look, no one’s interested in your stream-of-consciousness twaddle, what you may or may not be feeling and as signalled or implied by your incessant trailing silences; say what you have to say, say it clearly, and spare me the ruddy ellipses – you’re a writer after all, damn it!” –
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Caps and everything. I love people rambling on, in and out of stories, nothing necessarily pinned down, sometimes just using the page as they do a notebook at home. I also love a nice tight piece (who doesn’t folks? winks), perfect in grammar and production. There’s only one necessity all round – entertain me to a level where not only do I not notice the mistakes. I won’t care if they’re there and that is sometimes because the writer weaves them in as a clear part of their style. You can’t just spell terribly or leave out capitals and grammar and pretend you’re being clever, hoping no-one will catch on, if it doesn’t come naturally it will all read as poo.
I only have perfect ellipsis above because I asked you how they should look after you muttered darkly at some of mine a few months ago – falls about laughing
“People who abuse the venerable ellipsis should be shot dead and killed” Shot dead AND killed! Hahahahahaha. Brilliant. Strong words there.
I say all that – points up – but this kind of thing – “I’ll C U B4 the cricket scores bae, obvs” has the author next in line for your shooting dead and then killing business so far as I’m concerned. No doubts there. Obvs.
Great comment Hariod. I can’t see me needing to torture you with bananas for it in any form you’ll be disappointed to hear.
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Well Esme, I confess to being a little harsh in my opening comment, but you touched a raw nerve, an ancient wound, an interiorised chasm of intolerance stood between my own sensibilities and the rampant disregard of others to them, as well as to those afflicted such as I am. Essentially, the ellipsis is a matter of typography, and – though I flinch to admit it – the un-spaced three period, and even the ostentatious four period mark, are in fact permissible. Strunk & White prefer the three period mark, as do I and most of us, they also specifying the spacings either side of the mark, though not the spacings between periods, which is a matter for the typographer to accommodate. The un-spaced three period mark has merit in blogs and the like as it is always treated as a word by the displaying algorithms, and hence is never broken across lines. In a book, then to my mind the spacing of the three period mark looks more elegant, and can be accommodated by the typographer to prevent the catastrophe (for it is no less than that) of the line-broken ellipsis.
Now, as regards, meticulousness in writing itself, then Arthur Schopenhauer had many fine thoughts on books and writing, as recounted in a marvellous collection of his writings titled On the Suffering of the World – always a soothing nighttime read for the agitated mind. Here, he conveys his thoughts on the matter:
“(S)He who writes carelessly makes first and foremost the confession the (s)he (her)himself does not place any great value on (her)his thoughts. For the enthusiasm which inspires the unflagging endurance necessary for discovering the clearest, most forceful and most attractive form of expressing our thoughts is begotten only by the conviction of their weightiness and truth – just as we employ silver or golden caskets only for sacred things or priceless works of art.”
I have not the slightest idea what the italicised words in your penultimate paragraph mean, although they do convey to me everything I may wish to know about their author themselves.
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esme has a glazed look on her face as though she had to mentally go to another dimension at some point during H’s words. She is chewing a banana and nodding*
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Remove that banana from your person and focus Esme, focus!
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I’ve scoffed it.
Sorry H, in fairness that’s a beautifully wrought comment that deserved a bit more reverence than it got, and it does explain in depth ellipses, and how they will save mankind.
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What of the half-ass, truncated ellipse .. or the morphed ellipse ….. same hard feelings, pray tell?
And who is this Larry you speak so fondly of?
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You can get away with anything Peter, that’s a given. – nods
And now sir, I give you . . . Larry!
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/as-happy-as-larry.html
And here he is in all his glory looking mildly amused at best. Hahahahaha
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There is one guy (I shall not name names). I don’t follow him, but he pisses dots on a lot on other peoples blogs). He’s annoying as hell, and not just because of his addiction to dots.
His sentences go something like this “God created the snowflake …………. and you are so going to hell ……………..
mark my word ……………. praise the lord…………..”
My writing style is called dyslexia. I hunt down and haunt people like Hariod. 😈
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I’ve put my soothsayer’s hat on and feel this blogger might, just might mind you, be a God-squadder. Just a hunch (Ethmarelda!!). He’s gone crazy with dots!
“he pisses dots on a lot on other peoples blogs” – One of the funniest things I’ve read since the shooting dead and killing business Hariod spoke of. falls about
Whilst I know you have dyslexia, your posts are always perfect Victoria, so you can proof-read yourself perfectly – nods smiling And I believe I too have aged H with my spellinks.
Thanks for popping over Victoria.
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❤ Lately, my dyslexia has been really acting up, so please forgive me for my delay in replying. I love you, Esme. I sincerely mean that. You bring much joy to me — your wit lifts me high, as high as esme’s Cloud. .
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Oh sweetheart, how lovely. And the love is returned to you. If I can lift one above the dark mire that grasps at our shoulders at times, then my work is, if not done, certainly ‘working’. – hugs her ❤
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Victoria, I call in support of my case one Mr. A. Schopenhauer:
“A censor should be instituted who, instead of receiving a salary, should receive one louis d’or for every mangled or stylistically objectionable word, error of grammar or syntax, or misemployed preposition he discovers in them, and three louis d’or for every instance of sheer impudent mockery of all style and grammar, with double the sum for any repetition, the amounts to be defrayed by the perpetrators. Or is the German language perhaps anyone’s game, a trifle not worthy of that protection of the law which even a dunghill enjoys? – Miserable philistines! – What in the world is to become of the German language if every scribbler and newspaper writer is granted discretionary power to do with it whatever his caprice and folly suggest?”
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Lol
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Those affected by Alexia and Dyslexia are excepted from all such charges, naturally. You can keep your Louis D’ors in your purse, Victoria. 🙂
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Who made you king? :p
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My friend Vladimir.
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Off with your heads. No, that wasn’t a typo.
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I do the …. quite a lot. You have made me ponder why…
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Go with your heart on it. Sometimes we just need space, or dots, something like that. You aren’t irritating anyone I’m sure . . . Hahahaha. No I’m being straight. It did make me rethink how much I use them and where. Nice to see you Victo – beams
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EUTC, Tubularsock knows exactly what you mean . . .
It is like some form of disease . . .
If you get Tubularsock’s drift . . .
So very irritating . . .
If you ask Tubularsock . . .
But if . . . then what?
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EUTC – It sounds like my union code, call me esme dear Tubular. I could call you Tubby if you’d like? – sees the horror on his face
It is catching . . .I’m surfing on your drift and . . . can’t remember my thread after all the long pauses, but . . .
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I get it. There is a blogger here I graduated college with. She’s an exceptional editor, and writes brilliantly about … well … writing. How to write well, one might say. When she first came onto WP, I showered her with high praise (well deserved) and commented on every single post she offered – and she did this almost daily. I don’t think there was one time she responded. To anybody! Nor did she seem to read or comment on anything I wrote – not that I’m Mary Oliver, but hey. To me, the ellipses you speak of measure up about the same. I think these folks may be earnest, as you already suspect, but they simply don’t get reciprocity, poor critters :*( Then they wonder why they have zero followers (or 6 in a year) and feel like their work here is no good. It’s not that, folks … or it might well be … but. Universal law and all: yin/yang, give/receive … all that. %~() xo
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Whilst I can appreciate that the people I follow may not wish to follow me, (cracked, the lot of them), I will always reply to a comment, especially when they say nice things about my writing hahahaha. But it is just basic manners. I suppose if your reply is very rude it isn’t manners, but ideally it’s something that reognise the effort they’ve taken reading your work and thinking enough of it to comment. If they don’t want to engage with others, they can simply make all the posts ‘no comments allowed’ and only have likes, or neither. I’ve been to blogs like that, and good to them, but not being able to communicate in any form makes for a cold read ultimtely.
One of the chaps I followed who did the “Thanks . . . “ malarkey in replies, had hundreds and hundreds of followers. He did say other things, but had to end every comment with ellipsis (ellipsises for plural? No idea), so it doesn’t bother some folks.
Thanks Bela – smiles
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❤
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Esme I can not think of anyone who would not want to follow you. They would have to be deficient and far to weighed down in life. Be well. Hugs
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Oh that’s so sweet Scottie. I can’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and I don’t hold it against the deluded fools who think they can do without. Hahahahaha.
There you go, – points up – not everyone will ‘get’ or enjoy esme’s humour, and it can get a tad racy up here at times as well (all in the best possible taste of course (*see Kenny Everett).
But thank you. Keep smiling sir.
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Is that a good use of ellipses?!?! hahaha
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Perfect. Well done that dotty woman!
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YaY! I succeeded, then! :DDD 😉
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You certainly did, or at least I said you did and that’s good enough for the Cloud!
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⛅️
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I use them when I mean something as dry humour, rather than wit, or when I leave something unfinished because not fully thought through. They change the inflection of the voice as I hear the words. No need for ellipses here.
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Yes, in dry humour they work well, which is why it felt their answers were taking the piss somewhat. I’m a big fan as I said, just not at the end of every damn answer like this . . .
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It could mean, I have not finished, I have not fully thought this through…
but when the comment is Thanks, one is hard pushed to see how that might be thought through further. (That’s a definite, full stop there, as I am quite clear about my expression.)
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That’s the crux of it. Unless you mean the reader to think you’re falling off a cliff afterwards, or have forgotten something that’s just on the tip of your tongue, or, well that’s just it, who knows? Strange stuff is written digital communication. I’m liking the clarity of your last sentence Clare. This sort of thing makes a huge difference.
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Not really on topic, but I like to boast…
once I deleted someone’s comment, and replaced it as follows:
I am very sorry. I understand now. I am sorry I have been such a transphobic bigot, and I promise to at least try to see the truth about those onto whom I have projected all my despair and self-hatred.
[Clare: No, he didn’t say that, but he really should have.]
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“Not really on topic, but I like to boast…” – You sound terribly like Mr Pink there Clare. Hahahahaha
I’m loving your trickery. It’s fantastic. Unnerving but fantastic. We have no control over our comments anywhere beyond the fences of our own blogs. People can have you saying whatever they wish and could use it against you. But I’m sure there are ways of bringing repeating offenders under control. In this case the one off was just perfect. – shakes her hand*
I’ll admit (looks shady) to having only ever actually substituted the whole text of a comment once. I’m not saying what was there originally, but I replaced it with a gushing tribute to how admired Queen Esme is. The original was only a bit of cheeky fun, but I was having none of that particular subject. Other than that I’ve only cut bits off (ouch), apart from Hariod who likes to wind esme up by writing clearly unpublishable comments, knowing I moderate. That can be very, very funny though. Might just publish one as it stands one day. – laughs a lot
I never mind ‘off topic’, here on the Cloud you can chat about anything really if it springs to mind. Probably. Hahahahaha.
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Oh, and this. I left his comments, but edited them to appear in small print with the html command “sub”; and preceded them with my own note: [Clare: Warning: Caamib uses an imagination even more limited than his understanding in an infantile attempt to shock. His comments are like a diseased child playing with its faeces. I have permitted his comments so far to show him off, as a specimen of the idiocies one may find on the internet.]
Mind you, some of what he said was really horrible.
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“His comments are like a diseased child playing with its faeces. I have permitted his comments so far to show him off, as a specimen of the idiocies one may find on the internet.” – I particularly like that part Clare, so sharp. He’s easy to find, and looks like a delightful chap. Did I say delightful? I meant utter horror. You handled him perfectly, but shouldn’t have to receive such dark bile at all and I’m sad that you do.
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Right now, I am in the place where there is no darkness, going by a way wherein there is no ecstasy, or with Benjamin Sisko seeking the Orb of the Emissary.
What must be must be.
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Sisko will make things interesting. I go to Moomin Valley myself, Sam Lowry style.
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Loved the positivity shown in these words. 🙂
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Thats’ an interesting comment considering the title of the post – laughs – yet very perceptive too, for I was battling the side effects of some extra medication yesterday afternoon and evening and felt exceedingly grim. The post appeared of its own accord and I’m very pleased it ended up garbed in positivity. Thank you Ishitka. – smiles
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Previously, near a week ago very likely, I made a sort of promise to use your comment section as my own personal blog for the purposes of reaching an audience that might otherwise attempt to avoid the wisdom of my teachings. So, this morning (quite early, much before the sun would rise, snow on the ground, chill in the air, a fire just beginning to crackle in the hearth), when coming across your latest offer of an opportunity for my going into the world to spread the faith I was, as you might expect, quite eager to take advantage. Unfortunately, my eagerness soon turned to confusion, and disappointment as I (unsurprisingly foolishly) began to read your above post.
You see, and though it pains me to tell you this, but, as part of my New Year’s resolutions I find I must, I, honestly had no idea what you were, as some say, ‘on about’. The pain (excruciating and deep on a psychic level), as you probably already know, had nothing (whatsoever) to do with your inability to write clearly with all the right things in all the right places, but instead, as it regularly is, because of my embarrassment over not having a clue about the subject you were explaining. That is, I had no idea what this ‘ellipse’ thing is, or was, or would be. My first thought was that you had misspelled, ‘eclipse’. I really thought, “Oh, there must be an eclipse coming up, funny I hadn’t heard about it”. Then, realizing this was not what you meant I moved quickly to another tab (after first looking around to make sure no one was watching), and Googled the word in order that I not feel so left out of the conversation. Not to say you were trying to exclude me by using a word I didn’t know the definition of, but, and it is vital that you understand this, that was the result of your actions. I felt unimportant, disregarded, like some awful creature unaccepted in society, forced to live in the shadows, hunted mercilessly in the light of day, as well as any and every horrible other thing you can possibly think of happening to someone not considered fully human.
Imagine, if you can, furtively opening another tab in your browser (looking around nervously afraid of being caught) just because of your not knowing what someone was ‘on about’, and, all the while knowing this action of attempting to simply feel a part of something beyond yourself, even if deleted from your browsing history, would exist in the web (yes, I thought it humorous as well, ‘the web’ ha ha!) for perhaps eternity. Hundreds of years from now some nearly unrecognizable as human descendant of mine could come across this embarrassment, or, more frighteningly, in this far flung future, no doubt dystopian, a governmental, or corporate organization would hunt down those then living whose progenitors did not know the definitions of words or, even more sadly, because of their ancestor’s appalling ignorance, mistook one word for another.
That’s it. I’m exhausted, more to say of course, but, too drained, useless for the day ahead, left to laze about upon the purple couch with only the slight satisfaction of having offered you just a little food for thought before the next time you go writing about something I might not know about.
The President and Founder
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I’ll tell you this here and now President and Founder; until only a few months ago I too would not have known what someone was going ‘on about’ had they said ‘ellipsis’ and not ‘three dots in a row’. ‘Three dots in a row (I originally wrote ‘three dogs in a row by mistake hahahaha) has been good enough for our family for generations. The baker knows about three dots in a row, because when esme talks, she pauses a lot, so he knows all about it when I ask for my “white bloomer sliced thick please“, or say “I’d like a large iced finger and three muffins (bread, not cake, we aren’t savages over here you know!) , and pause thoughtfully inbetween (the arches – no, that’s underneath tsk).
But then along come people who know better, and start going on about ‘ellipsis‘ and how I am clearly using my dots in an unsavoury fashion (not dogs just to clarify), that polite society won’t stand (might get pushed over) for.
In other words, (pokes him with a stick as he’s humming loudly),I have stood in your shoes Mr President, (please wear socks more often, the athletes foot will never slink away otherwise), I know how truly grim a place it is to stand, out there on’t moors with the drizzle taking no prisoners, and only a cardi and blue flares between oneself and the ugly truth . . . that one reads some words, or listens (at a keyhole most likely), and find oneself thinking – and let’s be plain here (looks like a digestive at him) – ‘what the fuck are you on about?”
I still can’t spell it properly either.
The clip!! By all the Gods, medium-sized dogs and frogs – that film cuts to the core. Esme has wept more than once upon watching John Hurt, (has a brief swoon), play the tragic role so very well. I cannot watch another second. But it many ways, I’m sure you’ll agree (sees him glaring from behind the gaffa tape across his mouth) (seems to be a theme going this week, I urge no one to request I string them up and thrash them or the like, again, anytime soon. This isn’t a vicar’s tea party you know), that we are finally on common ground, not that I view you as commonplace sir, for I do not. You are a singular creature (do give your nails a filing though), and esme would not have you any other way (which way you can? An Orangutang that eats Oreos!), so please do rethink, and feel strong enough to visit the Cloud once more (loads more than once) when she next has the strength (looks genuinely weak) to post once more.
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OH, I’LL BE BACK ALRIGHT…
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Good job an all. – stabs him in the thigh with more elephant tranquilliser, then wheels him back into the cupboard
https://youngstrangeanachronist.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/nurseratchedwatching.gif?w=300&h=164
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. . .hmmmmm . . . not quite sure, but I think they’re tiny snowflakes on a page 🙂 okay, perhaps not, but now I am pondering my use or lack there of, I shall have to go check after I’m done warming my hands up. A might cold here if sunny Florida today, as I blow my reddened nose on a pristine white kerchief. Did you perhaps send it? This cold, I mean…oops….oops again. Ha, lovely post Esme, left me in stitches. Going to grab extra clothes, no running about naked on this cloud today 🙂 Brrrr.
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You’ll catch your death running about anywhere in the nuddy misses hahahaha. Happy to have given you stitches, but esme takes no responsibility for the cold in ya nose.
It’s done me good to reappraise elements of my writing, I was always a wanderer taking no notice of such things, and I still think rules work well when broken at times, but they work just as well , mahaps better at other ones.
esme sending some warmer sun her way upon the Cloud
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🙂 Thanks Esme of the clouds 🙂
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I am definitely an over user of ellipses. But usually not when I’m writing out comments, but when I am chatting on-line. I guess I just use the “…” as giving my fingers something to do while I think about what I want to say next. And while I don’t know what spurned me to start using it this way (perhaps unconsciously seeing other people do it) I think that’s ultimately why people use them too much. They forget that the ellipsis actually had literary purpose and wasn’t invented for the purposes of indicating “this is where I am thinking of something else to say”. Overall I would say it is indicative of how the age of the internet has caused everybody to be a writer. And when I say this I am not talking about “writer” as a profession but to try and write out how they speak. There is probably a clever way for me to write out a sentence that indicates I am being serious or silly, or sad or angry, and yet we’ve put emoticons into what we type as well. Something that written word didn’t seem to require prior to the internet. While I am always need of more careful editing, in general, practicing writing on my blog has helped a great deal as I had sunk into that “conversational-style” of writing and was using it far too often. But hey, not everybody has to be a writer and some part of me likes that we have developed this grammar to try and indicate gestures, and winks, and is trying to simulate that feeling of talking face to face even when we are miles away. With the ellipsis (I can’t believe Hariod didn’t correct your ellipse vs ellipsis. He’s slipping), I think we’ve hijacked something, and need to give it back. We just need to find a suitable replacement. Perhaps three commas instead. Although I am already a big over user of the comma also so that’s probably not good! 🙂
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Interesting, I don’t tend to use them when writing emails or messaging at all, only when I’m writing something specific, or commenting. But the latter is rare too.
“They forget that the ellipsis actually had literary purpose and wasn’t invented for the purposes of indicating “this is where I am thinking of something else to say”” That’s very true, and these things can end up spreading across the web without realising it. As you say, everyone’s a writer online and they don’t tend to realise how they come across without all the extras that facial expression and tone of voice – eye to eye can do. I mean phone calls can be tricky sometimes, writing online and unknowingly upsetting people or annoying them will have cost relationships I’ve no doubt.
“There is probably a clever way for me to write out a sentence that indicates I am being serious or silly, or sad or angry” – esme wonders how one might go about this as she smiles happily, one eyebrow raised indicating cheek, not a stormcloud of anger on the horizon – There probably is yes . . . Hahahahahaha. I’d rather people use emotioncons (troposhere translation) and give some idea of what they really mean, than have nothing, but they don’t go far enough to my mind, and also, I see the little faces on top of the persons body and it’s quite hard to take them seriously with a giant yellow head that has a yawning grin with hearts coming out of it. – falls about – true mind.
“(I can’t believe Hariod didn’t correct your ellipse vs ellipsis. He’s slipping),” – You actually read him then. Hahahahaha. (Sorry H, just pulling your leg – finds a stocking comes off as she does) Having said that Swarn, what are you on about? – looks like a dimmer bulb
I reckon just thinking about them, especially once the seed of such a thought has been planted, as it has in this post, will make some people now aware when they’re writing as to whether they really need to add the three dots of doom or not. I find them rather aesthetic, oddly comforting when used as a pause. We need something else then? How about going and making a cup of tea before carrying on writing? That would give you time to think I’m sure – laughs a lot.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Swarn, great to have you pop over and wrestle with the dots – grins
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“Spurred” Swarn.
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That’s better!
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Now I find myself wondering if I lapse into ellipses too often? I’ll have to keep an eye on myself to make sure I’m not going too dotty.
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Get a grip woman! Or, put them everywhere and see what happens. Hahahahaha.
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… … … but then again …
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OOOOOooo morse code is it? Fancy pants.
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I know it’s in a lot of style guides, but I can’t bring myself to put spaces twixt the stops in my ellipses (and oft before and after). Either thin spaced for me, or no spaced—I like things tight. Otherwise I try to take care with what I put out there, but do fess to publishing in haste sometimes (on blog) out of eagerness/warm feeling of actually finishing something. I do humbly request by footnote any reader report the errors of my punctuative ways to me by reply, but none yet have been forthcoming. So with SPaG I’m either in a deluded place where I think I’m flawless, or, (most likely) a place readers be too polite/lazy/overwhelmed to say/bother/take on the (unpaid) task . . .
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I used to prefer the close dots, but now find the longer spaces more relaxing. Odd, but true.
“but do fess to publishing in haste sometimes (on blog) out of eagerness warm feeling of actually finishing something.” – I’m terrible for this. Once it’s finished in my eyes I practically itch to publish it straight away. I’m curbing the eagerness these days and give anything I write to someone else (one of several people at times) to check the grammar for me beforehand, which I find excruciating, but it does make for a better result I’m sure, and I’m better generally now. I think I am anyway – laughs at her own bravado
I can see straight off on your latest post where I’d add and cull commas, but didn’t want to sound picky. I go with the beat and I think I’m quite good at that, (better when reading other people’s work rather than my own withhout doubt), that and noticing when something doesn’t quite flow, (or make sense) which is much the same but for a different reason. It often comes down to how it reads in your own head, and I’ve taken to recording my poems and listening back to see if I’ve actually placed the commas in the right places. You do generally seem to know what you’re doing though (sees him look thrilled at this glowing accolade). I suspect H is so precise that he’d have to scour everything from a to z in detail, but he too may well have thought the same as me. People don’t usally ask to be corrected, it’s a great idea however, one I shall never take up myself, but great. Hahahaha. Prodding people to do it is good too. – nods*
(Do go and see the Museworthy Man and his goods if you haven’t bounced over there previously folks. You know esme has excellent (if not a tad eccentric,) taste.
I have no idea what SPaG is. Fill me in.
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SPaG is but a stringy plate of ‘spelling and grammar’. Do cull and insert commas in my replies here won’t you – where’er necessary. Permish to make me look good.
For looking good: you’ve leapt and bounded of late, have a glass of accolade too. I can see your name on a hot hardback Esme. Methinks you’ll make it to print soon/one day if that’s a goal. Keep a space in any anthology for me (fanboy/guest) won’t you?
Curbing’s a great word.
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“I used to prefer the close dots, but now find the longer spaces more relaxing.” – A wonderful glimpse into the intra-psychic world of Esme!
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It’s all very Zen up here man.
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Yes, I have spent the entire day searching for a solution to this conundrum and had discovered naught but a great many conundra — non-sequiturs all. But ’twas worth every hour. What? Yes. The ellipsis complete, all three dots of doom contained within an ellipse, its central doomy dot between two foci. Left, right and center. QED (letters 3)
http://www.softschools.com/math/calculus/finding_the_foci_of_an_ellipse/
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By the Gods if only I’d realised it was all so simple!
‘We can find the value of c by using the formula c2 = a2 – b2. Notice that this formula has a negative sign, not a positive sign like the formula for a hyperbola.
We can easily find c by substituting in a and b and solving. That, in turn, gives us the location of our foci. We need to use the formula c2 = a2 – b2 to find c. Now, we could find a and b and then substitute, but remember that in the pattern, the denominators are a2and b2, so we can substitute those right into the formula:’
A central doomy dot. Hahahahaha. Brilliant.
Thank you Bill!
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. … – – . (Esme in Morse Code) 🙂
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Ha! Thank you Bill!
(I’ve had to change the two dashes by adding a space between them because (as you noted) WP won’t allow two dashes and insists on maing them one big one. Technically this may lead to it not saying ‘Esme’, but it will always say ‘Esme’ to me – smiles warmly)
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“Do cull and insert commas in my replies here won’t you – where’er necessary” – Comments too eh? Done. – smiles
I’ve been over and started on your ‘Three, Two, One…Woo…’ (nice ellipsis sir, winks). I can’t promise to be right, (as you’ve already noticed), but all hands on deck is a a good approach when checking over writing. If you disagree I won’t kill you with pins or anything. – nods
“Permish to make me look good.” – It’s a makeover you’re after then! gets the fake tan and scissors out – Hahahahaha. Only kidding, your writing is very pretty already, no doubt there, maybe just a bit of spit of polish methinks.
The compliments re esme’s writing are getting framed and a T-shirt may appear with the words on too. laughs and curtsies. Thank you enormously for that MM, very chuffed here. Your place has been reserved. I hope you fan well.
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“Do cull and insert commas in my replies here won’t you – where’er necessary” – Comments too eh? Done. – smiles. I’ve been over and started on your . . .”
Esme, when he says ‘here’, I’ve a vague sense that he’s not in fact indicating ‘there’. Your enthusiasm is indeed admirable, nonetheless!
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“Comments too eh?” Yes he meant here, and that’s what I did – here. I can hardly edit his bloody comments on his own blog and why on earth would he ask me to?!
esme going for a long bath with a JD upon the Cloud
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You love me really.
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A ‘sorry I made a mistake esme’ would suffice! Tsk.
You’re alright ‘spose . . .
smiles muttering a bit ❤
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I may have erred this once esme, true, and I’m not too proud to say so either!
I WAS WRONG! Yes, me! Forgive me or I shall go henceforth from this place and jump in the garden pond, and it will all be your fault esme. Yours.
(Though the wording was hardly clear in the first place, so I think I could successfully argue in a court of law that I was quite right to have made the assumption I made.)
H ❤
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I’ll think about it.
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(quite hesitant & shy whether the following comment should be made for great fear it may incriminate the Commenter and his origins!)
(Commenter FINALLY finds the courage, or some neurotic twitch, to speak/write it…………here goes)
Umm…in Texas we call them Dingleberries. Indeed, it is a real name in the dictionary. You are of some import if you leave three HUGE dingleberries behind you, especially if they glisten. You are of no serious import if you leave a bunch of average or itty-bitty dingleberries behind everywhere that have no shine or cannot even attract the famously renown Onitis aygulus, or the Clean-up Crew commonly called the Dung beetle.
Should there be anyone interested in the fine art of Cleaning up people’s Dingleberry dysfunctions…
(hurriedly scampers off before furry food missles find their target!)
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“(quite hesitant & shy)” – Who are you and what have you done with Professor Taboo?!
Hahahahahaha.
The word ‘Dingleberry’ has more than one meaning. All are amusing.
“You are of some import if you leave three HUGE dingleberries behind you, especially if they glisten.” – esme is falling about
Hugely entertaining comment Professor, thank you, and the post you have linked to was highly tickling, and informative too.
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Mmmmm, it tickles me blush to have entertained & informed such a fine Lady in the Cloudiness! (big grin & wink)
Thank you Ma’am for the kind words and for reading my bravado take on Ellipsical dingleberries and their uses as well as their clean-up!
(winks & respectfully bows to her Cloudiness)
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Professor, why not invest in one of these for that dingleberry issue?
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I love the ‘before and after’ part. Hahahahaha.
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Ellipses and I have a thing…I like ’em, my editor doesn’t. Sadly, I’m learning to wean myself, but it’s hard. 😦
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Aye, and that’s the rub! Otherwise it wouldn’t really matter, and it still does only matter if it matters to the individual, and as matters go, that is a smattering of matters right there, and no dots of doom at all included at all.
Probably . . .
Thank you for the visit!
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I am–and evermore shall be–a perpetual emdasher. Interruptive, emotive, sarcastic. I’m thankful that my bad habits–even if perfectly punctuated–don’t irritate Esme 😉
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“a perpetual emdasher. Interruptive, emotive, sarcastic” – Well you are certainly in the right place. Hahahahaha.
None of my followers write in a way that annoys me, everything else they do is annoying, but not their writing.
I jest of course. Hahahahaha. Great band of miscreants be they.
Thank you for stopping by misses. – smiles
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The other day, armed with special eye protection, I stood on my balcony (a couple of two-by-fours suspended over a gravel pit) and was dazzled by a solar ellipse. I dazzle easily.
Don’t you mean eclipse, Prospero? ‘When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less,’ said Prospero, whose sequined cape fluttered in the wind, which raged at Ariel’s behest. (Esme quickly searches Lewis Carroll’s oeuvre for her sanity).
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“special eye protection” – Goggles. I knew you were a goggle man when first I spied you Prospero. It’s not always easy to spot one, but you have the air of one (not the ‘hair’ of one to clarify, for one might have had a huge perm that had gone terribly wrong, and then where would you be? Suing me and wanting a fancy haircut at esme’s expense no doubt).
I see you now, cloak sparkling in stunning ellipse, all goggled up in Ariel’s wind and wish I could be there beside you, peg on nose.
Thank you Dear Wiz. I have been searching for esme’s sanity for over three hundred years now and a tip off such as that can only be seen as a boon!
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