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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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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.
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'm a big fan of ellipsis...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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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.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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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...
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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perhaps a bit (at least in my case) of a nocturnal omission...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Feb 2008
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newbie
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newbie
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 29 |
A floating lazy colon...that sounds like a nasty affliction.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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ah, the things left unsaid...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
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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
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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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... OK, omission, Mr. NitPickwick. Same difference.
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