Tips: Don’t use emojis indiscriminately, especially at work...

If your two boyfriends/girlfriends each replied with "I'm fine" (one side said "I'm fine~"; the other side said "I'm fine."), who do you think is really fine?

Although we cannot have two boyfriends/girlfriends like "if you", we face the same confusion as him - how come the punctuation marks that were originally inconspicuous in the textbooks become more and more difficult to understand once they are on the Internet?

Do you really know how to use punctuation? Please answer honestly.

The National Standard for the Use of Punctuation Marks clearly states that punctuation marks are mainly used to indicate pauses in sentences, tone of voice, and to indicate the specific nature and function of certain words. In other words, punctuation marks are used as an auxiliary and cannot be used independently like words.

But on the Internet, punctuation marks can not only be used independently, but also be used to express emotions in a powerful way.

One common usage is overuse. The Usage Guide states: "Question marks can be used in pairs to emphasize the interrogative tone. A maximum of three can be used in pairs."

But when chatting online

(???????????????????)

A series of question marks hit your heart directly, and some punctuation marks that originally could not be used together also attack in groups.

(,,,)(!!!!!!)(~~~~~~)

The second is to use them together. The Usage Guide stipulates that question marks and exclamation marks can be used together "when the sentence contains both interrogative and exclamatory tones and both are strong", such as "This year's year-end bonus will be reduced?!"

In the actual chat,

"The company is not giving out year-end bonuses this year!?"

"The company has no money?!!!"

"If we don't invest in the company, it will go bankrupt???!!!" and other mashups

Like, “Do you think they’ll give us coins?”

" ,,,..."

The third is to create your own style. The most typical one is the tilde sign “~”, which was originally used to connect two statistical figures. Now it is used to act coquettishly and cutely. When used together with “hmm”, you will feel that the bald man on the opposite side has become soft and cute.

There is also a group of people who don't use punctuation at all when chatting. The typer is happy, but the reader...

On the Internet, punctuation marks not only have new uses, but their meanings are also becoming more and more confusing. In a communication space far away from reality, they have become Schrödinger's punctuation marks. Not adding them may make you look aloof, but sometimes adding them creates a sense of distance. The most authoritative one in this regard is the period. If a person ends every sentence you chat with with a period, you may feel that the other person is not simple.

But if the other party only sends you a period, it is likely that he wants to say "let's stop here."

Linguist Ben Zimmer explains the above phenomenon as follows: "Compared to traditional writing, online punctuation is more powerful. It conveys tone, rhythm and attitude rather than grammatical structure."

In 2018, the journal Computers in Human Behavior published a paper (Punctuation in text messages may convey abruptness. Period), in which the author compared the differences in the use of periods in several online chat situations. The results showed that whether it was a positive, neutral or negative reply, chats with periods made people feel more uncomfortable. In other words, no matter what the situation, replying to others with a "OK" and a period always makes people feel nervous.

So if you want to annoy your boss quietly, why not try putting a period after each sentence?

If a period makes people feel that things are tense or negative, an ellipsis makes people anxious and irritated.

There are several types of ellipsis on the line: single ellipsis, which means "nothing to say";

When an ellipsis appears in a sentence, it either indicates a short pause, a slow tone, or the speaker is thinking;

The ellipsis at the end of a sentence indicates that the sentence is not finished yet, and there is a "but" after it, or it may mean that everything is implied...

Abuse of ellipsis has become a special term in foreign countries, which mainly describes the hobbies of middle-aged and elderly people when chatting online. When there are too many ellipsis, it is inevitable that people will feel that the speaker cannot make decisions or that the speech is too strenuous...

Question marks, as their name suggests, often make people confused about their intentions. A question mark from a mentor or leader may make you panic and tremble with fear; a bunch of question marks from teammates will increase your blood pressure and make you throw your phone in anger; if you receive a question mark from your girlfriend, you don’t need to know what it means, it is recommended that you kneel down on the keyboard.

However, question marks can sometimes have a positive effect. In 2016, a scholar investigated the emotional differences between users when they received "What happened?" and "What happened". The results showed that question sentences without question marks made people feel a little indifferent, but after adding question marks, the other party would feel that you really care about him.

So next time when you comfort your girlfriend who is having her period, remember to add a question mark after “Are you feeling better?”

Finally, let’s talk about the magic weapon of schizophrenia and the gospel of social phobia - brackets. A half bracket can carry almost everything. It is a mask, a barrier, another self, words that dare not be said, and the true inner OS can all be typed in the brackets, just like lowering the volume in reality. The water before the bracket is poured out, and the way out is left behind.

Especially when you make some unreasonable requests or are embarrassed to refuse:

And I don't know if the joke is too much.

You can even make fun of yourself.

In short, brackets can be used to express a variety of emotions such as speechlessness, shock, shame, etc., and to express one's true feelings in a tactful way. However, although brackets are good, they should be used with caution in scoring situations. After all, the leader has learned it and can still give it back to you.

After reading this, do you feel a little troublesome? I have already escaped to the Internet, why do I have to change my social language? This involves some rules in language communication. In communication studies, there is a formula to quantify the effect of people's emotional expression:

100% information transmission = 7% language + 38% voice + 55% gesture.

In other words, tone, intonation, and facial expressions can better convey emotions. However, online communication reduces 55% of gestures, and typing reduces 38% of voices. How can we make up for these missing information? The upgraded punctuation marks simulate the various emotions of face-to-face communication, which makes up for the emotional expression to a certain extent.

Another factor is that online communication is more about speed and efficiency. Even if you are chatting with your bestie, everyone wants to type fewer words on the keyboard. The average person speaks at about 150-200 words per minute. Except for some students who have developed a strong typing ability, the average person can only type 50-80 words per minute.

To convey the same message, you can either type away like crazy or use fewer words to express more meaning. What, you said you like to send 60-second voice messages? See you in a drifting bottle!

So in this urgent situation, punctuation can replace more information.

This is also in line with the "economy principle" proposed by French linguist André Martinet, that is, people hope to achieve the best communication effect with the least investment.

In life, you will find that most of the time, the words you type are not from your heart. Chatting between people cannot be as simple and cold as machines. In order to communicate effectively, we have to type a lot of words, add emojis and punctuation marks to beat around the bush. This is in line with the "politeness principle" proposed by British linguist Geoffrey Leech, that is, the speaker will consider the other party first in communication, flatter more, and even belittle himself for the other party's face.

"Cooperation" and "politeness" are complementary. In daily communication, politeness usually prevails, so we add a bracket after "you are fat again" (wrong), and add a tilde after "hello" when greeting new friends. The principle of cooperation requires fast communication, while the principle of politeness requires you to get closer and ask about others' well-being. At this time, the appearance of brackets resolves this contradiction.

That’s all we have to say about online punctuation.

There is a theory in communication that communication between people goes through a process of encoding and decoding. You encode your thoughts and feelings into language and pass it to others. Others use their knowledge background and life experience to decode your language and convert it into what they understand. In this sense, when you say a sentence, its meaning is no longer under your control, but depends on the understanding of others.

On the one hand, we want others to understand us perfectly, but sometimes we want to hide our true selves in appropriate language and symbols. We long to understand and be understood, but we also want to hide at all times. This is also full of misunderstandings, big and small, and all our communication is difficult in such awkwardness.

But it is this flawed way of information exchange that has created brilliant myths, epics, songs, beliefs, and even civilization. So, human beings are quite limited, but not that bad.

References:

[1] Friendly reminder: Don’t use emojis indiscriminately, especially at work… I am a scientist

[2] A university teacher was dismissed for frequently using question marks? ? ?, Guokr

[3] When I see someone post “OK.”, my heart tightens | Online punctuation usage guide, Beijing University of Psychology

[4] Why are we so keen on using alienated punctuation marks? ? ?, Yangcun Communication

[5] Don’t shout: A brief discussion on the misuse of punctuation and format in expressing emphasis, Minority

[6] Social media puts a “period” on the English word “period”, Xinhua News Agency

[7] Linguist: There is a reason why young people don’t like to use periods when sending messages, China Daily

[8] If words really die, the culprit is probably punctuation. Nowness

[9] Without brackets, I can’t chat properly on WeChat: How punctuation became a social “show”, Quanmeipai

[10] A true story of going crazy while chatting on WeChat: Are your punctuation marks toxic? , Have you learned sociology?

[11] On the Use of Punctuation in Internet Language, Wu Ying, Journalism Knowledge

[12] On the alienation of punctuation in online communication, Chen Dian, Modern Communication

[13] Analysis on the Current Status of Punctuation Use on the Internet, Fang Yan, Journal of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications

[14] The variation of punctuation in Internet language, Zhang Yingwei, Journal of Nantong University

[15] The “Bracket +” Phenomenon in Internet Language, Luo Ruxin, Journal of Shenyang University

Source: Vision