Q&A with a Millennial: How to punctuate so Zoomers will respect you
So read the title of an article that figuratively slapped me across the face as I scrolled through my Google alerts for grammar and punctuation. (Yes, I’m that nerdy.)
“I don’t feel a burning desire to be respected by Gen Z,” I thought in my Xennial mind, “but making grammar and punctuation accessible to all is a passion of mine, so I should learn about what all the kids are doing these days!” You see, my sister-in-law has dubbed me “the world’s youngest Boomer” and my Gen Z siblings have referred to me as “grandma” at times. So I’m not, as you say, “hip” to the trends swirling among our youngest communicators. Thus, here I go.
Merely six words into the article sub-heading, I had to pause and ask myself, “What the f*** is l33t-speak?!” And, herein, I stumbled straight into the crux of the article: My interrobang is acceptable, but punctuation in general is not, except to convey a few specific feelings. Periods are aggressive. Tildes are aloof. At least interrobangs still are confused, as am I.
Why would the younger generations do away with the majority of punctuation? Per the article, it comes down to one thing: texting.
Texting has changed how we write. In actuality, it is a language of its own. As the article points out, it’s mostly about speed. We want to take as little time as possible to convey as much as possible, and writing complete sentences slows us down. We should use only as much punctuation as is absolutely necessary, keep to one sentence per text, and use common abbreviations, such as LOL and WTF.
There are some good lessons in there for when we write more-formally: Choose the right punctuation every time (see the meme below). Err on the side of brevity, i.e., use only as many words as is necessary to clearly convey your point. The simplest words often are the best words. Abbreviations are useful, provided that your readers will easily recognize their meaning. And, when you can, have someone else review your work with an eye to streamlining, especially a trained editor (no, this wasn’t one of the article’s recommendations, but I had to insert a shameless plug for my services somewhere).
But, doing away with punctuation entirely? No. That texting rule absolutely does not transfer to formal writing, and this is a hill I will die on. Punctuation’s function is to tell the reader how to read the text. The text could be introductory (:), inquisitive (?), impassioned (!), incomplete (…), interconnected (-), or just matter of fact (.) (sorry, there’s no good i word for that). We know which is the case because of punctuation.
So, continue to use proper punctuation. You can even use it in your text messages. Embrace your Boomer side! Don’t let these beautiful punctuation marks that do so much for us go to waste!
Oh! And, because we apparently can use abbreviations instead of periods now–another of the article’s revelations–I’ll close this discussion with my feelings on this entire subject:
WTF?! No. #punctuationmatters #oxfordcommaforever #stilltheworldsyoungestboomer
(Meme sources: https://www.instagram.com/p/CDYvvm1DAOy/, https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/ok-boomer-meme-hurts-gen-z-more-older-generation-it-ncna1079276, https://thepostcalvin.com/pondering-punctuation-from-least-to-most-delightful/)
Clean Composition by Rachel Elrom 