# Using commas as ellipses **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 3, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583 "2011-05-03T16:29:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/21 "2011-05-03T18:22:10Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Someone who doesn’t know what perspective is isn’t going to create art that looks like Picasso’s; it’s just going to look like crap. Ummm,I hate to break it to you about Picasso, de gustibus notwithstanding but still, ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/22 "2011-05-03T18:29:25Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I may have misspoken. I didn’t mean they hit a different key each time; repeating a key three times is simple enough. Just that they pick a key without looking at it. I _have_ seen /// before, too. Really? That I haven’t seen. But maybe I’m just not reading enough crap typing… ---
**Author:** ![bahia\_hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@bahia\_hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahia_hombre)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/23 "2011-05-03T18:57:09Z")
Not all written communications have to be so formal (especially on facebook), the comma splice is functional and underrated (only need one comma tho), think of it as a list of logically sequential thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/24 "2011-05-03T19:43:01Z")
> [@bahia\_hombre](#): > > Not all written communications have to be so formal (especially on facebook), the comma splice is functional and underrated (only need one comma tho), think of it as a list of logically sequential thoughts. Wow, you’re new here, aren’t you. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/25 "2011-05-03T20:01:59Z")
Don’t know if this is relevant, but on my (admittedly cheap) cellphone, text entry is done via the number pad. You know, once for “a,” twice for “b,” etc. The period is once on the “1” key, the comma is twice. When I get texting real fast, I frequently make errors involving one push too many or few. Though I doubt anyone posts a whole blog on an LG620. I vote for creative eccentricity. I used to find things like the number of spaces between successive dashes very eloquent. Took me forever to figure out what that “&NBSP” was in the resulting text. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Stilettos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/26 "2011-05-04T02:27:35Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I don’t know. And I also don’t know why this very board has been overrun the past few months with people who think you put a space before a question mark or exclamation point, but \*that’s \*been happening too. I’m guessing this is related to posting from smartphones. The iPhone autocorrect automatically adds a space after an accepted spelling correction. If you are typing fast, you’ll forget to erase that space before adding punctuation. This is most likely to happen with punctuation other than a period, since you can insert a (properly spaced) period by hitting the space bar twice. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/27 "2011-05-04T14:17:23Z")
Could be eyesight. With a small screen and/or poor resolution a typo of , looks a lot like … ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/28 "2011-05-05T15:18:06Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I don’t subscribe to that idea. Written language has rules and conventions that are standardized so things mean the same to everyone. It’s like the argument we get here over and over again that if people understand what someone is saying, it doesn’t matter if they use proper English or grammar or punctuation or capitalization. Yeah, it does. Written language is more formal and more standardized than spoken dialects because it needs to be. > > And the first person that responds to this post with, “umad?” will have me visiting their house and strewing their garbage all over their yard. 🙂 Why does it need to be? If I am capable of understanding various accents, why would I also not be able to understand different uses of orthography? No, spelling and grammar are standardized not out of necessity, but ability. It’s just the natural progression of code switching in an environment where the correlation can be even more exact. There’s no real reason why people couldn’t adapt to various “accents” in the written word as well as verbal. For instance, I read a [webcomic](http://www.mspaintadventures.com/) that features a group of aliens called Trolls who all speak with “quirks”, unusual ways of spelling out their accents that look a lot like how Internet trolls actually type. Heck, the real language trolls all understand one another. Your example, “umad,” has a meaning that is understood, and it doesn’t quite mean what the properly spelled words mean. There is nothing inherent about the written word that necessitates standardization or formalism. It’s just an artifact of how things were used in the past. And, with more and more people having a significant form of their informal communication in written form, and a significant portion of that written form on devices that make it difficult to follow normal orthographic rules, both forms of language are going to change. Heck, I already write the way I talk, and was taught to do so by my English teacher. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/29 "2011-05-05T20:07:17Z")
Yeah, they will and do change, but meanwhile, it makes it more difficult to read written text without punctuation or capitalization or with rampant spelling errors. I make the effort to type out my thoughts and opinions here; I don’t want to make them harder for other people to read. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/30 "2011-05-05T20:16:35Z")
Using commas as ellipses is akin to writing _Five Marine’s and a Navy corpsman are shown planting the flag at Iwo Jima in the famous photograph_. In other words, it is a careless error. I blame the Welsh. :: pauses to quadruple-check for typos :: :: sneers arrogantly at Gaudere :: ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/31 "2011-05-06T08:23:59Z")
I haven’t seen the commas used for an ellipsis consistently enough to notice any trend, but when I have, it’s usually an obvious typo from rushing and not caring. I try to always use only 3 periods, but if I’m feeling particularly formal,\* I’ll use the actual ellipsis character/symbol. Not sure what the key-combo is on a PC, but on a Mac it’s option-colon. …periods… …ellipsis… Using commas on purpose looks just plain dumb to me; both aesthetically and intellectually. On Edit: I have seen the ellipsis typeset as 3 periods with spaces between. . . This drives me nuts as well. Blech! \*Usually when I’m typesetting for print or graphic design. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/32 "2011-05-10T12:22:55Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I don’t know. And I also don’t know why this very board has been overrun the past few months with people who think you put a space before a question mark or exclamation point, but \*that’s \*been happening too. I wonder if: - Some forums isolate punctuation other than periods, so - People assume it’s correct in forums or on the internet and do it themselves. Also, I think that’s style in, like, Singapore or somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/33 "2011-05-10T12:26:23Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > an ellipses An ellipsis. Some ellipses. My mother doesn’t punctuate at all… except via the use of ellipses… sometimes extended seven or eight periods long… sometimes with random spaces… . . .. … I have no idea why. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583/34 "2011-05-10T13:02:08Z")
What gets me is when people use commas instead of an apostrophes. I have seen this on quite a few boards, although thankfully never here. So they type things like “I don,t have a clue about punctuation” or “I,m an idiot”. I mean, the commas are in completely the wrong place! Are they blind? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-commas-as-ellipses/580583.md?page=1)