Gen Z vs. the period: Is this the last stand for the stalwart punctuation mark?
The period speaks up after a decade of bad press in this exclusive interview.
The period is passe.
Today's youth perceive the stalwart punctuation mark that signals the end of sentences as a sign of passive aggression — or just plain aggression.
Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, views using a period in text messages as a point of contention.
"That's right. If you are over 30, you must learn what I learned yesterday: when you use a period in your texts, Gen Z finds this 'harsh,' 'scary,' and 'passive-aggressive,'" wrote Miami of Ohio University management professor Megan Gerhardt, in a viral Linkedin post this June.
Gerhardt's observation was the latest in a decade of assaults on the period. The New Republic opined on Zoomer's persnickety perception of the period in 2013.
The period has had enough. The period's public relations firm called the ol' Paragraph Stacker this week to set the record straight.
Q: A 2021 New York Times headline said, "No more periods while texting. Period." An NBC News report last year said the period is "falling out of favor." Then academia piled on with the Miami of Ohio professor's post this summer. How are you holding up under the negative press?
A: Not too good, Dan. I've been ending sentences since the 15th century when the Italian printer and godfather of the paperback book, Aldus Manutius the Elder, standardized punctuation. The period means "full stop." That's it. There's no subtext. It just means it's the end of the sentence and has lasted more than five centuries.
Q: Zoomer says that you don't need a period to show that a text message has ended and adding one at the end sends a message.
A: I agree. The message is "the sentence is finished."
Q: But you must understand that language evolves. Technology has changed how people communicate.
A: You call this evolution? You're probably one of those guys who likes the pitching clock and pizza box-sized bases in baseball, aren't you? I am the least offensive punctuation mark there is. Manutius also turned the slash mark into a comma. Why isn't the comma getting any of this guff?
Q: There is a longstanding argument over the use of the Oxford comma in lists as opposed to the Associated Press Style, which —
A: Are you kidding me? Oxford? The AP? These people are grammar nerds. They still debate whether or not to capitalize the "A" in "angst," and it was capitalized until the 1940s, but "angst," as a word, only dates back to the 1870s. I've been putting an end to sentences since Ponce de Leon was looking for the fountain of youth in Florida and Copernicus published his theory that the Earth and the other planets revolved around the sun.
Q: Times change. The NBC News story quotes a Rutgers University student who said people who use periods in their texts make her think, "They are really formal or they're mad at me."
A: Why are we listening to these people? Zoomers think a "thumbs up" emoji is "rude and abrasive." The smartphones they're all addicted to show an animated ellipsis to indicate someone texting them is typing. Do you know what an ellipsis is, Dan? It's three periods in a row — three of me!
Q: I noticed you used an exclamation mark there. The Miami of Ohio professor's students said they preferred the red exclamation mark emoji because it was for "jokes" and "fun."
A: Seriously? The exclamation mark is the favorite punctuation mark of middle school girls' diaries written in fuchsia ink during the 1980s. The exclamation mark started out as the letter "l" over the letter "o." Printers simplified it by putting a short line above a what? A period! Me. Old reliable. When they needed to fix something, they brought me in to hold it up. And don't even get me started on the question mark.
Q: I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask this: What about the question mark?
A: It originally was a lightning bolt. In the 8th century, that's how they let the few people who could read know that what was written was a question mark. Centuries later it evolved into the modern-day symbol, "?," which bears similarity to the cursive capital "Q," which looks like a "2." Yet again, when they really needed to let people know a sentence ended, they came back to you're old pal the period, and stuck me under a curved squiggle. There I am, in exclamations and questions, reassuring people of a completed sentence.
Q: Kids today don't learn cursive — unless you live in a ridiculous state whose legislators are so unwilling to embrace progress that they require students to learn the antiquated writing style. Perhaps the period's time has ended.
A: You know what should end?
Q: What?
A: This interview. Full stop.
Daniel P. Finney is a member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Please visit their page to view a full roster of writers and consider subscribing to their columns. Writing is hard work; people ought to get paid for it. If you enjoy it, throw them a couple of bucks. They earned it.
Good one!
Wait I thought Dr. Evil's father invented the question mark not primal charge of electrical current from the heavens Am I wrong?