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Porcupine #173292 02/08/08 12:18 AM
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Originally Posted By: Porcupine
Very funny.

There I go with the periods...anyone know if that particular punctuation (the three periods) has an official name?


of course.. it's called an ellipsis

pl. ellipses
1a. The omission of a word or phrase necessary for a complete syntactical construction but not necessary for understanding. b. An example of such omission. 2. A mark or series of marks (... or ***, for example) used in writing or printing to indicate an omission, especially of letters or words.
ETYMOLOGY: Latin ellpsis, from Greek elleipsis, from elleipein, to fall short.
[AHD4]

there's actually an ANSI character "…" which is *not three separate periods, but is rather printed as a group. [note the difference in spacing]

it is also a recognized practice to use just two dots to show such omission (thus three at the end of a sentence to show following omission from a para.) the OED, e.g., uses this convention in its citations.


tsuwm #173307 02/08/08 03:25 AM
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I'm a big fan of ellipsis...


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Is it really an ellipsis if it's not indicating deleted text? It's like the floating lazy colon, variously known as diaresis (if it indicates separate pronunciation of the vowel it is over, as in naïve) or umlaut (if it indicates a sound shift, as in Fräulein). There is a generic term for that character in some languages, trema.

Faldage #173317 02/08/08 12:08 PM
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>Is it really an ellipsis if it's not indicating deleted text?

the AHD def'n indicates an "omission," which is rather different from a deletion -- as in an incomplete...

tsuwm #173318 02/08/08 01:37 PM
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perhaps a bit (at least in my case) of a nocturnal omission...


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A floating lazy colon...that sounds like a nasty affliction.

Porcupine #173321 02/08/08 03:02 PM
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ah, the things left unsaid...


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... and just as well...

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tsu: So am I addicted. Usu as ***** in the reply to an email where I want to distinguish my comments from my correspondent's...

...reason being that in Windows/Outlook etc Bill Gates has left us with a legacy in which unconventional means are required; because in transmitting an email he removes all semblance of your identity such as font, color, paragraphing, indentation, etc etc with everything shoved up together among dozens or hundreds of <<<<<<<'s (or is it >>>>>>'s)


dalehileman
tsuwm #173361 02/09/08 12:24 AM
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Originally Posted By: tsuwm
>Is it really an ellipsis if it's not indicating deleted text?

the AHD def'n indicates an "omission," which is rather different from a deletion -- as in an incomplete...


OK, omission, Mr. NitPickwick. Same difference.

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