That is the message on a billboard near work, advertising their service. What I’d like to know is: was this style of emphasis- word period word period word period a thing prior to the Simpsons? I mean, Comic Book Guy with his Worst. Whatever. Ever.
There’s been a trend in advertising for decades to short, emphatic sentences. I suppose one-word sentences is inevitably where it had to end up. Perhaps advertisers will now come up with sentences consisting of individual syllables. I don’t care. The only justice I demand is that any advertiser that starts a TV ad with “introducing …” should be shot through the head and thrown into the nearest river and no one should buy anything that was being hereby “introduced”. :mad:
It makes you wonder whether their internet is really that fast if it has to stop after every fucking word, and also whether the advertising department even talks to the business department.
Crooked marketers can’t stop pandering to low-literacy losers. Sad! #EveryoneIsDoomed
I’m sure it predates Bill Shatner, but he’s the earliest example of it I can recall. AKA “the Shatner delivery”:
The. Boy. Learns.
Reminds. Me. Of. The. 300. Baud. Days.
I noticed this recently with some local restaurants having Three. Word. Slogans. like “Good. Fresh. Food.” and wondered where the trend originated. It’s. Very. Annoying.
I always related it to the Comic Book Guy in the Simpsons “Worst.Movie.Ever.”
I believe the related TvTrope (warning, TVTrope) is this
Actually, this
Yeah, it seems to have originated with Worst. [Blank]. Ever. - with Day and Date being the most common blankfillers.
I’ve just assumed that using the period* after a word began when the internet and email began. The period adds meaning. Just like emoticons, which had to be invented to avoid confusion, because on the screen you can’t hear somebody’s tone of voice.
Writing "a. word. with. a. period. after. it. " is a good way to write a word with a pause after it.
And that pause is exactly the same pause that we all use in regular speech when we want to emphasize a word.
A similar issue arises in American English, where when we want to emphasize something, we speak the period out loud.
Examples:
“He’s the best athlete in the league. Period”.
“Stop arguing with me…My decision is final. Period.”
(*note to Brits : a period is what you call a “full stop”)
These were gonna be more or less my comments.
Really? Fast? Internet?
Raiders of the Lost Ark predates The Simpsons.
Top. Men.
And here I thought ellipses were good for that.
(I’m sure some grammar professional will correct me, however.)