# What Do Multiple Commas Mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 19, 2021, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947 "2021-09-19T21:39:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/1 "2021-09-19T21:39:56Z")
I think I’ve seen it on these boards, but many other places too. At first I thought it was a typo. But I’ve seen it so many times, I don’t know anymore. Multiple commas, almost like ellipses points with periods, but with commas thus: , Now you do realize that this is grammatically incorrect, if people are using it for any reason. 🙂 EDIT: This message board won’t let me display multiple commas for some reason. But you know what I mean 😉 . ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/2 "2021-09-19T21:53:19Z")
My understanding is if ‘…’ is trailing off, then ‘,’ is an emphasized or more dramatic trailing off. I think it is more of a twitter/instagram thing. eta: Yeah, I’m sure there is some way to do it in discourse, but I haven’t figured it out. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/3 "2021-09-19T21:57:13Z")
,,, Type Backslash comma Backslash comma Backslash comma _This is a backslash_ \ ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/4 "2021-09-19T21:59:13Z")
dang it. I was close. Tried forward slash. ETA: Nope, still unsuccessful. Feeling dumb. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/5 "2021-09-19T22:08:25Z")
Some people don’t know how to use punctuation. This is an example of it. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/6 "2021-09-19T23:21:24Z")
Here’s one explanation of it (which is new to me): > **[Why Do Young People Use Commas So Weirdly?](https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/comma-ellipses)** > > If you've seen people using the comma ellipsis and think they're making a mistake,,, they're not. It's part of new trends in online punctuation. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/7 "2021-09-19T23:44:25Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > _This is a backslash_ \ Nope – that’s a forward slash. Do you know why? Because, when you draw one by hand, **it goes forward on the paper** (from left to right) as you draw it. I used to have trouble distinguishing between a forward slash and a backslash, until I figured out that handy little trick to help remember. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/8 "2021-09-19T23:46:31Z")
Nope > **[How to Use Slashes in Writing](https://www.grammarly.com/blog/slash/)** > > There are two types of slashes: a backslash (\\) and a forward slash (/). The backslash is used only… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/9 "2021-09-19T23:49:08Z")
Is this a joke? I’m confused. Either a weird joke or you are really, really wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Smudge777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@Smudge777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smudge777)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/10 "2021-09-20T02:19:33Z")
It’s unfortunate that your “handy little trick” has taught you the wrong thing. A forward slash is leaning forward. A backslash is leaning backwards. Much easier to remember than trying to figure out which direction to draw it (because both slashes are able to be drawn left-to-right, or front-to-back). ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/11 "2021-09-20T03:00:40Z")
The ironic thing here is that your memory aid that is giving you the wrong answer, would give me the correct answer, because I draw slashes bottom to top, not top to bottom. I wonder if that is what you actually learned, but it hasn’t worked because you don’t draw slashes the way you were expected to. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/12 "2021-09-20T04:00:05Z")
I’ve always assumed the / was simply a normal slash, and \ was called a backslash because it’s backwards from the normal slash. Then / came to be called a forward slash just because it’s backward from the backslash. What I want to know is why the backslash \ character was ever a thing to begin with. The early-day Model 35 Teletypes had it, and IIRC the even earlier Model 33 Teletypes had it, even with their very limited character set. Despite the very limited 7-bit character sets, they had a few odd characters included that weren’t otherwise very commonly used in those days. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/13 "2021-09-20T04:14:49Z")
According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backslash), the origin of the backslash symbol is unknown. Strangely, its earliest known appearance is in a 1937 Teletype manual which shows it on the keyboard of a Morse code tape perforator, which is odd since there is no Morse code encoding for the symbol. It’s purpose on the keyboard is not known. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/14 "2021-09-20T05:24:28Z")
OJ Simpson was all too familiar with the keyboard keys for backslash, forward slash, and escape. It’s an old joke. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2021, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/15 "2021-09-20T06:05:40Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > ,,, > Type Backslash comma Backslash comma Backslash comma What an odd feature, collapsing multiple commas into one. I wonder what its purpose is. Surely accidentally typing more than one comma was not such a widespread issue that it needed software correction. I can see the logic of converting two or more periods (.) into ellipses (…). It’s about using the correct character in your font for ellipses. But, as far as I know, there is no equivalent with commas. I hope it wasn’t someone trying to stamp out this linguistic phenomenon. Don’t get me wrong: that level of informality is probably a bit too far for this board, but Discourse in general probably should want to be able to accommodate newer linguistic trends. ---
**Author:** ![arles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@arles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arles)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/16 "2021-09-20T06:28:46Z")
Unless you are left handed - then it goes from right to left… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/17 "2021-09-20T09:51:48Z")
This is that greater than crocodile thing all over again ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/18 "2021-09-20T09:56:24Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > Multiple commas, almost like ellipses points with periods, but with commas I’ve seen it a fair bit. In my experience, it tends to correlate quite strongly with crackpottery - conspiracy stuff, medical woo, pseudoscience, etc. I don’t know if its an in-group culture thing; I asked someone about why they did it once and the reply wasn’t terribly coherent, but it seemed to be a conscious choice not to conform to more normal writing styles. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/19 "2021-09-20T10:50:38Z")
No idea, it is a Discourse thing and not an SDMB setting. It is possible the multi commas screws up some SQL they use. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947/20 "2021-09-20T12:37:34Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > Nope – that’s a forward slash. Ah! So _you’re_ the one responsible for those occasional ads I hear where URLs are given with “backslashes.” They’re just plain “slashes” or “forward slashes” if you’re being specific. Every time I hear it on the radio – I can’t remember the specific commercial, but there’s more than one – the sleeping pedant in my head wakes up and says “it’s just a regular slash or forward slash!.” The last time I remember using backslashes was navigating directories in a command prompt on DOS/Windows machines; actually, no, I’ve used them as an escape character since then. (One of the commercials has, incidentally, apparently been informed of their error as now they conspicuously say “forward slash” in their URL.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-multiple-commas-mean/950947.md?page=2)