Re: Wikipedia entry on XyWrite

[Caballero Carlo.Caballero@xxxxxxxx]

On Sat, 14 Jun 2008, Carl Distefano wrote:
> Agreed. No question. I was merely suggesting that when one more or
> less arbitrary convention is replaced by another (dots versus
> dashes, for example), there is nothing to get exercised about.
> (Although, in fact, this has not happened in the case of the em dash
> and the ellipsis. They aren't interchangeable.) But surely there's
> no doubt that having *some* mark to indicate a pause, hesitation,
> and the like adds evocativeness to the language. And clarity,
> insofar as to omit the mark would change or obscure the meaning.
Thanks for this side-observation, Carl. I'd been puzzled by the E-mail
messages from one particular student around here who started writing me
last semester as a member of his advisory committee. His messages are
filled with hyphens, sometimes three, sometimes nearly fifteen
-------------- between clauses and sentences. Now I see that he's using
them as if they were dots-a-la-Marge. And a quick look at his most recent
message shows a relaxed alternation between ... and --- (yes, Patricia,
always with the superfluous spaces around either form).
So just you wait, Carl, there may be a movement afoot to replace those
dots with dashes. (For you sociolinguists, the student is
"non-traditional," probably about 40 years old.)

Who knew ------?

Carlo
Carlo Caballero
thyrsus@xxxxxxxx