Forum Moderators: not2easy
I recently subscribed to The Economist magazine in hard copy. Guess what? They no longer place periods after titles such as Mr, Dr, Ms, etc. Similarly, I work with one site where I found it visually expedient to eliminate periods in often used "letters" such as PhD, MD and US.
I doubt that all punctuation would ever vanish and turn all written communication into the equivalent of run on thumb typing. But there's clearly an evolution afoot when a respected print magazine starts dropping traditional punctuation.
I know that there are many style guides: APA, Chicago, MLS, etc. Some of these are used for certain fields, and one of them may not use periods in titles.
Is it possible that some companies, especially The Economist, could be using a style guide that leaves out the periods in these titles?
...Actually, I believe that punctuation is supposed to make it easier to read text, without distraction to the eye.
I think the online phenomenon is because many people are too lazy to punctuate
[webmasterworld.com...]
I do think that the web is such a factor for change that we can watch the evolution unfold, and changes in punctuation are just part of it.
Yes, it's clear to me that The Economist has an explicit set of style rules here - whether their own custom set or another I don't know.
I was taught how to properly compose a paragraph, yet here we are. I have to believe we are observing the laws of
advertising being applied to the rules of good grammar. Certain grammatical elements can be distracting when the medium is as visually appealing as the internet - like a magazine advertisement. It wasn't always so, especially with the internet. The web is as much art form as it is print media and will probably always follow design dictates before those old stuffy rules of grammar.
Does this help my pages? I hope, in some small way it does. Probably not though.. But in my travels thru the web I've picked up this little habit, just by even casually observing the content of other web sites. So, almost virus like, the 'punctuation bug' is getting spread around. That's my theory, anyway...
It's sad to see the same thing in any paper print media. I've always held the print media in the highest regard, and almost expect to be reminded of lessons long past.
There is a finite supply of punctuation in the universe. Due to excessive and inappropriate use of apostrophes (e.g., "I have two PC's", "Greeting's", etc.), there are fewer periods and commas available. (Note that apostrophes are actually elevated commas, and commas themselves are merely periods with a small tail.) The only solution to this problem has been to reduce the use of these other punctuation marks so that they are available when really needed. ;)
On a more serious note, this is an interesting trend. In my own copy, I guess I'd hold off on ditching punctuation until that practice becomes part of an accepted style manual. (Unless, of course, I was striving for a cutting-edge feel to my text.) I wouldn't be sorry to lose periods in "Mr" and "PhD" - from an ease of reading standpoint, periods in these honorifics don't add anything.
Contractions are a longstanding characteristic of English. You'd get odd looks if you announce the time as "a quarter of an hour before nine of the clock." Hyphens are constantly slipping away; we now cooperate with coworkers at our multinational on standalone neoclassical armchairs, which will be nonrefundable. This went on well before "Web site" became "web-site" and tumble into "website."
But then, as grandpa notes, most web content isn't accessed the same way print media are. A web page is a quick reference; if I want to read fine literature, I'll head out to the bookstore. Varied sentence structure, precise punctuation, so-called "funnel" form for thesis paragraphs-- all good and fine for writing, but not very good for looking up or finding a quick summary of something.
