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- Trigger Warning: Ellipses Ahead
Oh no! Gen Z is upset again about something we Boomers are doing! Dear, dear, what’s got their gender-neutral undies in a twist now?
They’re freaking out about ellipses in text messages.
Seeing those three little dots instead of a period triggers confusion and even fear – yes, fear – for some members of Gen Z, like this TikTok’r who complains:
“It’s condescending and I hate it and I’m scared.”
She begs “dot dot dot” users to “chill out,” and I hope she takes her own advice.
The ellipsis is most often used in two ways:
To substitute for missing text, as when using only part of a quotation: “It’s condescending and . . . I’m scared.”
To create a dramatic pause: “He opened the door and revealed . . . a shocking surprise!”
(For a deep dive into the ellipsis, visit the Grammarly blog.)
Many people incorrectly use an ellipsis instead of a period, and that’s what’s causing Gen Z heads to spin. Boomers are stringing sentences together with these mysterious dots, and Gen Z just can’t take it. What’s been left out? What dramatic event looms beyond the three dots?
I, too, hate it when people use an ellipsis instead of a sentence. I just don’t let it ruin my day.
I’m encouraged that Gen Z has taken such an interest in punctuation, although I suspect they’re going all Karen on us because it’s just another way of saying “Boomer bad.”
Expert Advice: Make It Personal
Enough about all that stuff you’re selling. It’s time to sell yourself.
That’s the advice from marketing expert John Hall, offering 3 Tips for Entrepreneurs Wanting to Amplify Their Personal Brand in Forbes:
Your entrepreneurial journey makes you unique. What you’ve experienced and learned along the way defines you as a brand. People want to hear your story, so tell it . . . Talk about your journey in your content. Sprinkle its anecdotes in your speaking engagements. Social media provides an ideal platform for not just sharing bits of your story as it happens, but to also comment on others’ stories. Engage with entrepreneurs globally to make yourself heard as part of that community.
Share your personality, too. Find your voice, in the tone that reveals who you are and what you care about.
Are you funny? Don’t be afraid to use humor, even irreverence, as long as you don’t get offensive.
Do you have a unique perspective on topics everyone else is writing about? Put it out there. Your view might be the one that really gets everyone talking.
Sharing yourself with your readers builds trust. When someone I admire confesses to mistakes they’ve made or uncertainties they’ve wrestled with, it helps me learn how to handle similar situations myself.
Revealing your vulnerabilities doesn’t make you seem less competent – just more human.
Tools to Use: How to Write Short
In the internet age, short content is king. Roy Peter Clark’s 2013 book, How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times, can help you get the hang of it.
Don’t worry — the book’s not that long.
Clark understood before many that while it’s easy to write short copy, it’s not so easy to write short copy well.
Online, people tend to read for information rather than for an intellectual experience, and they scan the text rather than read it as they do printed words.
Writers must get to the point quickly and organize ideas into quick bursts instead of long, chunky paragraphs that can look like a chore to take in.
Along with examples of short writing that works and doesn’t work – and why – Clark offers practical instruction in how you can build the skill in your own work.
Read it.
Or scan it.
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