<------------Hangs head in utter and complete shame.
I’m also beyond guilty of this, but I swear, on a STACK of Bibles, I don’t do this in business correspondence, or in any technical writing, but only online in informal chatting and bb situations. Some of us are just way more energetic and expressive than others, and I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one who feels stifled by the black and white, and non-emoting blandness that is typing.
Heppy, heppy day indeed. But, as we all know, a “Kat” is a special case–especially a Coconino Kat.
(I understood an obscure cultural reference! I’m kool!!! 
)
(But I sometimes worry that I overuse parentheses…)
(…and mulitple question marks are, as we all know, a sure sign of a diseased mind.)
Another guilty ellipsis user here.
Usually, I find myself using one to denote a pause in a sentence while I’m searching for the right word. Of course, sometimes…
My line of thought just peters off into nothingness. sigh
I overuse too, generally when I can’t be bothered to type something I think’s obvious.
Q. Can you think of anything that’s foo?
A. Anything that’s bar would be foo…
As in, I know that’s incomplete, but you’re likely to KNOW what’s foo, so there’s no point my enumerating them. Or “That’d be bad… [implicit examples] No, I never have” or… no, I can’t think of any more examples. But I’m trying to cut down, honest.
Perhaps he thinks he’s an RPG (role playing game) character.
Hero: Excuse me.
Enigmatic Man: …
Hero: Hello
EM: …Yes.
Hero: I’m looking for blue key.
EM: … … Many are… …
Hero: Oookay. Can you help me?
EM: …
Hero: I’m holding a sword bigger than the two of us put together.
EM: …or perhaps the sword is holding you…
Hero: Gahhhhh! (Slice!)
EM: …Sara…
Hero: Who?
EM: …
Hah! I am the true uber geek. I got the Kepler joke and I worked in an RPG reference.
I can only answer in one way:
You might consider using *'s. They’re often used in ASCII-limited situations when you’d otherwise underline or use italics. It’s a nice way to lend emphasis.
Save the quotes for when you’re actually quoting somebody, or when you’re “dubious.”
What he said.
I have no idea how to use ellipses properly I just love to see a row of full stops. I never ever use 3 in a row. I’m deeply fond of 6 (or more) for some reason.
I am a ellipse abuser…feel free to shoot me
Here at the radio station, we call it “Veddering.” Eddie’s pretty bad about this.
Far be it from me to throw stones, because until my entry in THIS thread, I’m reasonably sure I have done it…A LOT.
Dammit.
I don’t think I’ve used more than three dots to indicate an ellipsis, however.
As an editor of my high school’s literary magazine, this bugs me to no end. People submit poetry (usually these are, of course, the sappiest of poems) with practically every line ending in an ellipsis. Drives me up the wall, but most get rejected anyway.
The funniest one I ever saw was on a sign outside a church: Praise “Jesus”.
Consider me guilty of overuse of ellipses.
I write exactly the way I speak, and I speak somewhat hesitantly and I trail off at the end of sentences. You have no idea how hard it is to stop doing that after you’ve already started and have gotten accustomed to it. Both written and spoken.
I also use ellipses when I’m depressed. I don’t know why, but my mental state makes me add three periods to the end of every sentence or word when I’m typing on AIM.
And now, for your amusement, I shall post some advertising text that I had to place on a Web site in the past year, because the marketing ‘expert’ that was PAID to come up with the text sent it to me this way. I did not fix it unless it was just too much to take.
These are how she presented various specials (some aren’ tthat terrible when taken together, but as a group they are grating):
Just in time for Valentine’s Day…10% off ALL gift baskets…offer expires February 29, 2004
Don’t Forget Valentine’s Day, February 14th…Order by NOON, February 9th for GUARANTEED delivery by February 13th
Announcing [company’s] Affiliate Contest…September 5 through November 30, 2003
Prices are "Fall"ing at [company]… SAVE 15% on all gift baskets…offer ends September 31
Quality Assurance Guarantee…
All our gourmet gift baskets are made to order…never pre-packaged, so you can be sure what you order is exactly what you get!
Limited Time Offer…10% Off ALL Gift Baskets
Sizzling Summer Special Offers: Save $10 off any order of $100 or more (excludes already discounted promotional items)…
PLUS… ALL NEW GIFT NON ALCOHOLIC GIFT BASKETS PRICED UNDER $30.00 …gift basket details below!
PLUS
We set up the client’s new site so she can post all this baloney her own self. Gave them the ability to make product discounts and name them (such as ‘Christmas Chocolate Discount’ or ‘Summer Graduation Discount’)
This is what she came up with:
"HAPPY HOLIDAYS DISCOUNT!!! "
So now when you get your receipt you see: “Discount applied: HAPPY HOLIDAYS DISCOUNT!!!” and you see it all through the checkout process, etc.
Not to mention that the client added about 60 new gift baskets to his site, and he let this marketing specialist name all the new gift baskets. No less than SEVEN of them have elipsis in the middle or at the ends or even the beginning of their name.
Thank you for this thread. I really needed to get this off my chest…
And for all you Google whores who are going to go looking for this site - at least buy a basket. they are quite good (not that this client, who I’ve worked with for 3 years, has ever sent me one…but that’s another pit).