[domesticzookeeper]

Originally Posted by 2sunshines

Wait. My world is rocked. Ending a sentence with .... could be taken as passive aggressive??? I do that all the time. To me it just means my thought is unfinished. Like I'm still pondering but not sure how to express it. Sort of a "hmmmm" -- does that make sense? Or an invite for feedback. For me, it's sort of a punctuation subsitute for this emoticon

I'm imagining someone trailing off at the end of a sentence, with no punctuation to indicate emphasis or emotion, and it just *sounds* passive aggressive. If someone did that in vocal conversation I would assume they were saying something more polite than their actual opinion. Same with "hmmmmm". Depends on context, but my brain translates it to vocal speech and it sounds more like a hint that they want to say more, but won't say it. I can't imagine someone saying "Hmmmm" IRL and me not immediately asking them to share what they're really thinking. So, basically what you're saying, but to me it sounds less like you want my feedback and more like you don't feel you can be straight with me.

JMO.

---------- Post added at 07:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:13 AM ----------

Originally Posted by marbles

There are unwritten rules and codes for every language and dialect and subgroup, if you're communicating in a professional setting, the style will be professional. If you're texting casually, the style will be casual. There are always chances for miscommunication, but it's not like people will be angry if you use proper grammar.

It's code-switching for the written word, and people pretty instinctively know how to do that, and also that some people don't want to be bothered.