# Really. Fast. Internet. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 27, 2016, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113 "2016-08-27T05:46:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113/1 "2016-08-27T05:46:52Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113/2 "2016-08-27T07:31:40Z")
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: ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113/3 "2016-08-27T09:00:25Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113/4 "2016-08-27T13:18:55Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > 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. Crooked marketers can’t stop pandering to low-literacy losers. Sad! #EveryoneIsDoomed ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113/5 "2016-08-27T15:31:13Z")
I’m sure it predates Bill Shatner, but he’s the earliest example of it I can recall. AKA “the Shatner delivery”: > [@](#): > > an insertion of an unnecessary pause while speaking or communicating through text based systems such as SMS text, chatting, or instant messaging. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113/6 "2016-08-27T15:34:56Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Crooked marketers can’t stop pandering to low-literacy losers. Sad! #EveryoneIsDoomed The. Boy. Learns. Reminds. Me. Of. The. 300. Baud. Days. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113/7 "2016-08-27T16:42:12Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![SantaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113/8 "2016-08-27T16:45:21Z")
I always related it to the Comic Book Guy in the Simpsons “Worst.Movie.Ever.” I believe the related TvTrope (warning, TVTrope) is [this](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PunctuatedForEmphasis) Actually, [this](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WorstWhateverEver) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113/9 "2016-08-27T17:02:07Z")
Yeah, it seems to have originated with Worst. [Blank]. Ever. - with Day and Date being the most common blankfillers. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113/10 "2016-08-27T17:37:07Z")
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”) ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113/11 "2016-08-29T01:15:10Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > 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. > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > The. Boy. Learns. > > Reminds. Me. Of. The. 300. Baud. Days. These were gonna be more or less my comments. Really? Fast? Internet? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113/12 "2016-08-29T01:29:25Z")
_Raiders of the Lost Ark_ predates _The Simpsons_. Top. Men. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fast-internet/764113/13 "2016-08-29T01:40:03Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > 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. And here I thought ellipses were good for that. (I’m sure some grammar professional will correct me, however.)