Current location:International Impact news portal > politics
VOX POPULI: Young texters have rendered punctuation marks obsolete
International Impact news portal2024-05-21 06:49:50【politics】4People have gathered around
IntroductionIf punctuation marks could speak, they might remonstrate us, “How could you do this to us now, after
If punctuation marks could speak, they might remonstrate us, “How could you do this to us now, after using us all the time?”
Young Japanese today are said to feel that use of the “full stop” punctuation mark--or “maru” in Japanese--makes social media posts come across as “aloof” or “unsympathetic” in tone.
In fact, young netizens recently decried the use of the period as “maru harassment.”
An example cited was a post that said “Daijobu desu” (literally, “It’s OK”) with a maru.
I am in my 50s. I checked my cellphone’s history and confirmed that I have always used punctuation in all my texts as a matter of course, including those sent to young people.
But not one text I’d received from them was punctuated.
With a jolt, I saw this for what it is--a generation gap.
Wondering if this “no punctuation” phenomenon is peculiar to Japan, I asked my friends in Europe, Southeast Asia and South America.
Apparently, the trend is common in various languages around the world.
A British woman in her 20s said, “Punctuation is not needed in message balloons. The ‘send’ button serves as the full stop.”
And just as in Japan, the period is disdained as giving off an uncaring, authoritarian and grumpy vibe.
Many people end their messages with no period or a dash, she said.
She also told me that while she and most of her contemporaries in their 20s think favorably of the exclamation mark at the end of a message, that is not the case with teenagers, who dislike it as being “coercive.”
As for writing formal emails or responding to messages from her superiors at work, she uses punctuation as an indication of seriousness and formality, she said.
In “Kutoten Omoshiro Jiten” (Fun facts about punctuation) by Masatoshi Orui, I came across an interesting anecdote from about half a century ago.
A well-known Japanese language scholar argued that it is rude to use punctuation in a letter to one’s superior, as this is tantamount to being condescending to the recipient by making the letter easier to understand.
I began to feel sorry for punctuation marks for being subjected to praise and censure, for promoting good manners on the one hand and aiding bad manners on the other.
But since I rely on them every day, I vow to keep using them as I always have. Period.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 16
* *
*Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
Address of this article:http://clippertonisland.adventistmissionjapan.org/content-61f199929.html
Very good!(17136)
Related articles
- Lynn Williams breaks NWSL goal
- China and India's 'stone age' border battle: Astonishing never
- Timbers rally to beat San Jose 4
- Hush money trial: Trump asks New York court to intervene in fight over gag order
- Strictly star Giovanni Pernice's former partner Rose Ayling
- Haiti's crisis rises to the forefront of elections in neighboring Dominican Republic
- Spanish police say they've broken up Sinaloa cartel network, and seized 1.8 tons of meth
- A Palestinian converted to Judaism. An Israeli soldier saw him as a threat and opened fire
- Kate Hudson hits the stage to debut songs from her new album Glorious at star
- Meghan Markle re
Popular articles
- Why US Catholics are planning pilgrimages in communities across the nation
- Spanish police say they've broken up Sinaloa cartel network, and seized 1.8 tons of meth
- EA Sports College Football 25 comes out on July 19. Edwards, Ewers, Hunter are on standard cover
- Atlanta Dream moving two games vs Caitlin Clark
Recommended
Supreme Court rejects an appeal from a Canadian man once held at Guantanamo
Windermere to wasteland: Raw sewage illegally pumped into Lake District beauty spot
US prisoners are being assigned dangerous jobs. But what happens if they are hurt or killed?
After slow start to IndyCar season, Arrow McLaren tries to get back on track at Indianapolis 500
Why US Catholics are planning pilgrimages in communities across the nation
Shaquille O'Neal, 7ft1in, towers over Sarah Jessica Parker, 5ft3in, as the pair pose up at the star
Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities
Asian soccer body scraps 12
Links
- IMF to downgrade forecast for over 140 economies amid Russia
- Xi Focus: CPC Leadership Meeting Calls for Rallying Powerful Force to Advance National Rejuvenation
- Algeria reports no new daily case for 1st time since COVID
- U.S. stocks fall as investors dump risky assets amid surging inflation
- Xi Focus: CPC Leadership Meeting Calls for Rallying Powerful Force to Advance National Rejuvenation
- Tianjin welcomes tourists from 30 foreign countries on maiden cruise trip
- U.S. stocks fall as investors dump risky assets amid surging inflation
- IMF to downgrade forecast for over 140 economies amid Russia
- World's first unmanned aerial vehicle launched on e
- Double blow for UK's Johnson as two Cabinet ministers quit