# What the heck is a fool stop **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2000, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342 "2000-03-08T20:14:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jack\_Maxwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@Jack\_Maxwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Maxwell)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2000, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342/1 "2000-03-08T20:14:00Z")
We have a Bulgarian exchange student living with us who learned most of her English from Brittish instructors. She recently used the term “Fool stop” meaning period, as in end of sentence. This sounded rather odd to me, so I looked it up, or I should say tried to look it up, but it is in none of my dictionaries, and a couple of web searches brought nothing of any value. Anyone heard this term before, and does it have anything to do with telegrams (blah-blah-blah stop blah blah blah)? ---
**Author:** ![Rahul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f14d63/32.png) [@Rahul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rahul)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2000, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342/2 "2000-03-08T20:17:00Z")
“fool stop” iz Vulgarian vor “Fullstop”, i.e., period * * * There are far too many Baldwins. The only Baldwin I care for is a piano … ---
**Author:** ![Trout\_Mask\_Replica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@Trout\_Mask\_Replica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trout_Mask_Replica)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2000, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342/3 "2000-03-08T20:24:00Z")
‘Full stop’ is a British term for a period. Not sure on the etymology of it though. * * * TMR The fact that somewhere a camera is secretly pointed right up the business end of a toilet and somewhere else someone is hacking a password so we can see it for free is all the thanks we need. – From [http://www.oldmanmurray.com](http://www.oldmanmurray.com) ---
**Author:** ![SingleDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@SingleDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleDad)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2000, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342/4 "2000-03-08T21:29:00Z")
“Full stop” is, of course, technically a redundancy. “Stop” is an absolute term. However, the term is used in contrast to pauses or ‘partial’ stops: commas, semicolons or colons. Hey, I never said English was a logical language. * * * He’s the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armor, shouting ‘All Gods are Bastards!’ ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2000, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342/5 "2000-03-08T22:03:00Z")
I’ve noticed the use of [stop] to mean a period in telegrams. I guess there aren’t Morse codes for punctuation. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2000, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342/6 "2000-03-09T02:50:00Z")
I have caught my British-(high)schooled boss saying this too. I had no idea what he was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2000, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342/7 "2000-03-09T03:17:00Z")
I’ve always liked the German “Punkt”. It even _sounds_ like a stop. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Maxwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@Jack\_Maxwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Maxwell)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2000, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342/8 "2000-03-09T03:24:00Z")
Thanks guys. Told my wife and she says “I thought she said full stop?” go figure. Jonny “Punkt”? Same derrivation as punctuation? That’s cool. I just love language. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2000, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342/9 "2000-03-09T12:16:00Z")
I’m not sure it is a redundancy in this context. “Stop” refers to a group of punctuation marks including the comma, colon and semi-colon, of which the full stop is but one. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2000, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342/10 "2000-03-09T12:26:00Z")
Frankly, I’ve always thought of ‘period’ as being a weird name for a full stop. I mean, isn’t a ‘period’ a length of time? Why should that end a sentence? * * * [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/) - **Shadow of the Pigeon** - Weirdo of the Night ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2000, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342/11 "2000-03-09T13:21:00Z")
But now, British English and American English can join together in calling it “dot” as in “dot-com”. No longer will the languages be divided by nomenclature of punctuation. ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2000, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342/12 "2000-03-09T14:12:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by CKDextHavn: > **But now, British English and American English can join together in calling it “dot” as in “dot-com”. No longer will the languages be divided by nomenclature of punctuation.** Well, my nitpick here is that, even if the usage of “dot” for period/full stop is bleeding into non-Internet usage, it’s not exactly correct. “Dot” is, to use the British nomenclature for a moment, most emphatically **not** a full stop, it’s a separator. There’s no “dot” at the end of an address; there are one or more “dots” in the middle of an address. Therefore, though the Internet-style “dot” closely resembles a period/full stop, it is not the same thing and the two should not be conflated. * * * …but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans! ---
**Author:** ![TNTruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@TNTruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TNTruth)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2000, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-fool-stop/8342/13 "2000-03-09T15:29:00Z")
Even worse is when people start to call a decimal point a dot. I’ve been calling that little round inkspot a point for so long, I really have a hard time with “dot”. I’ve even caught myself using the term “period point.”