Answer: What is the correct punctuation for speech that "trails off"?

[theemdash]

with examples from Stargate: SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Fullmetal Alchemist

velocitygrass asks: What is the correct punctuation for speech that "trails off"? What is the punctuation for interruption (either by yourself or someone else)?Many people will tell you that trailing-off punctuation is largely a result of stylistic choices. Personally, I disagree

Comments

[lmichelle599]

Four periods just doesn't look right for a thought that trails off. I know I've violated that rule. I'm going to go and look at the current fic I'm working on to check for any problems so far.

[theemdash]

But it is right! ;)

Have fun checking. *waves*

[legoline]

Oh, that was interesting. I hope I can remember it all :-)

[theemdash]

This is stuff that comes to you through practice and experience. You can have all the knowledge before you, but if you don't use you, you don't learn it.

[legoline]

True. I'm just happy enough that my beta pointed out to me when to use an em dash and when to use an ellipse (aka "cut off thought vs. trailing off". That's how she explained it to me and to just wrap my mind around the concept, it really helped.) I never knew there was a difference between "-" and "--" though - very cool.

[legoline]

And I just realised I used an en dash wrongly there at the end. Crap! :-p

[akasha_lilian]

Lovely essay, thanks! =)

[rigel_7]

Normally, I would regard the spacing in your ellipses with a feeling of vague to mild horror. But I do see your point about readability online.

Often the spacing is far too compressed in the default 10-12pt sizes - especially if the stylesheet calls for a serif font without making any adjustments to the letter-spacing attribute (kerning).

Off topic, but it would almost be worth doing a mini essay on readability for LJ, yes?

[theemdash]

Kerning! How you mock us all!

Yes, the kerning is exactly why I space my ellipses. Also, I think it's easier readability for when you end a sentence in an ellipsis. (And I've been frickin' trained to do it, now.)

Readability for LJ I think would have to start with "don't use pink font on a black background" and end with "serifs are your friends." ;) If you're interested in writing it, we've got openings in the Features. *pokes*

[rigel_7]

*snabs it*

I have to say that CSS and all those lovely leetle tricks you can do with it to make your page just that bit more presentable is a slight obsession of mine.

*adds "you do realise that comic sans is just a plain ugly font, and yeah . . . that gothic font - completely fugly as well as unreadable." to list*

[theemdash]

Comic sans is fine for comic book paneling, but really shouldn't be used otherwise.

I find most script fonts fairly offensive, but that's more because I find the rigid similarity in the curls of a script to lack anything resembling a soul. If I'm reading something in script, I enjoy seeing the particular ticks of the writer in the imperfections. Script fonts on a computer always seem cold, devoid of human interaction. (And yet I don't have this problem with other fonts, just script! Heh.)

[tigerlilly2063]

Huh. There's always something new to learn. :o I've always used the ellipses kinda intuitively. Good to know there are rules! *hehe*
And the En Dash is completely new to me. *blinks*

Being a second-language speaker makes this (and the complete community) even more valuable to me.
Thanks for your efforts. :)

[theemdash]

There are rules, but if you're using it intuitively, that's actually a good sign! The best way to learn how to do something is to do it.

I'm glad you're finding it valuable as a second-language speaker. I had really hoped to help non-native English-speaking fans.