I seem to be a bit more aware of punctuation lately. It started with this post about one space v. two spaces (and wow, I never would’ve guessed that so many of us were “typing Luddites” as Lyndsey put it). Today, I’m going to ramble on about parentheses. (And just so you have something to look forward to, my next punctuation post will be about em dashes…you can thank Jenners.)
If you’ve read my blog for awhile, it should come as no surprise that I love parentheses (and I readily to admit to overusing and abusing the poor things…they should put in for overtime). It makes me happy to use them, because I think they do a good job of representing my thought processes (a little fizzy, kind of scattered, and full of after-thoughts).
However, this may come as a shock, but I recently discovered that I also hate parentheses. I know, I know…I’m contradicting myself.
You see, there’s a time and place for everything, and work is SO not a place for my good buddies (my good buddies being ( and ) ). I spend a good deal of time writing and revising procedural guides for where I work (it’s a government agency…we love us some procedures). (Also, you’ll be relieved to know that I have yet to use ellipses in my procedural guides.)
So there I was, revising a guide that somebody else wrote (on one hell of a depressing topic that I’m not going to share), when I realized the original author (who luckily has since retired, and therefore was not within earshot of my growls and curse words) used too damn many parentheses. Much as it pained me to admit it, they did nothing but confuse matters (and look ugly, to boot). After all, I’m trying to make things easy for our busy workers to understand. So I went on a parentheses deleting rampage.
Let me illustrate.
When giving instructions, the following sentence is just bad, bad, bad:
Turn in paperwork to the Intake unit by 9am the following working day. (either drop off or fax) (Also frustrating…the period was on the wrong side of the parentheses!!) (Another also…occasionally she would use [brackets]. *shudder*)
Dude! Why can’t you just say…Drop off or fax paperwork to the Intake unit blah blah blah.
So I spent the better part of my morning correcting someone else’s poor sentence structure, and also laughing at myself, because yes, I do recognize the hypocrisy. However, it just goes to show that:
1. My blog is a far cry from my job, and it gives me great pleasure to make sure they are nothing alike.
2. I can be gramatically (and punctuationally) correct if I try hard enough. Please don’t take offense at the fact that I’m not trying for you all. You’re just getting the unedited version of me. And you should feel lucky that I don’t use footnotes…can you imagine the horror? The scroll bars would revolt!
I agree with you about the use of parenthesis. I love to see them in creative writing and reviews, but hate to see them in manuals and instructions. I think there is a time and a place for everything, but I do watch for appropriate use of parenthesis( which is totally subjective).
zibilee´s last [type] ..The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde — 178 pgs
I’m with you. Parentheses are wonderful when used to indicate mildly distracted thoughts. They are not so great when they are used for what is, to my mind at least, pure laziness. People seem to use them when they just don’t want to write a complete sentence. They should be interjections.
Trisha´s last [type] ..Reading Schedule 2011
Funny, I have no strong feelings about parens; but I’m looking forward to the em-dash post.
Beth F´s last [type] ..Giveaway- Two for the Austen Fan
HA! I feel this every time I take an author to task for something dumb like using ‘And’ to start three sentences in a row, and then I feel like I have to clarify that I KNOW THAT I ALSO DO THIS THING, but I do it in a blog and on purpose, and they are doing it in a published book (and probably by accident).
I likewise look forward to the em-dash. I don’t use them in ye olde blogge, but I had to start limiting myself to one em-dash per paragraph in my papers for school.
I love abusing punctuation. I am particularly fond of the comma (though the parentheses also get quite a bit of love, because I have a lot of thoughts, you see).
Nicole´s last [type] ..Living Richly- Seizing the Potential of Inherited Wealth- by Myra Salzer – Book Review
I’m struggling Jill. After your post the other day I’ve been trying to correct my two space habit. But I’m going to admit that it makes my writing feel so cramped! I hate being so aware of my typing.
(think I need two spaces before my smiley/unsmiley guys, so there…:P)
I use paratheses a lot. And em dashes. And ellipses. And occasionally brackets, but only when I *really* want to show that the word isn’t part of the original train of thought. In fact, the more I blog and email, the more I realize how bad my writing is getting. Once upon a time I used to be a good writer, but now my writing is so casual and parenthetical that I wonder how I have any readers at all. But, like you, it’s very telling of my brain processes. So I’m not going to stop. My new thing I’ve noticed this week is using really short sentences. Mostly incomplete. Crap…yo’uve ruined me.
Trish´s last [type] ..Wordless Wednesday- Quilting Progress
I too like parenthesis too. I like being creative with my thoughts when writing in my blog. You have a nice blog !
Penny´s last [type] ..The External Challenges We Face
The punctuation mark I overuse is the exclamation point! I’m sure people must think I’m this eternally chipper creature because of it.
If you want to read something with such poor grammar you want to gouge out your eyes, try grading student papers! Honestly, you’d think 90% of them do not speak English as their native language.
I try to intersperse my parentheseses with em dashes because I’m OCD about stuff like that. But sometimes you just HAVE to use parentheses, ya know?
Great post! Like Trish, I’m still working on the 2 space thing, but I’ll admit to a conflicted relationship with parenthesis, too…
JoAnn´s last [type] ..A Dubious Distinction
Yay for this post (I’m slowly catching up on the others). And, up until maybe last month, I didn’t realize that I was only suppose to put one space after a period. I claim I’m a flexible chica, but sorry, no can do. In my classroom voice: Absolutely not. I will space twice, thank you.
And love, love, LOVE the ( <3 ) Oh and also, the ellipses which i will space in between periods sometimes and other times not. I've been playing around with the semicolon, but I'm doubtful if we'll continue our partnership. Oh and yes, I adore personification.
(I love parentheses!)
Jillian´s last [type] ..Are we crazy to be reading so fast
I way overuse parentheses, and I know this about myself, but I think I’m pretty restrained when it comes to formal writing. Other people should be too! If I have to eschew all my fun punctuation for formal occasions, everyone should have to!
Jenny´s last [type] ..Review- Midnight Never Come- Marie Brennan
I’m all atwitter about the em dash post — I love them to pieces though I wish I could type them straight up instead of having to put two dashes together. (And even though I use them improperly at times.)
I’m actually a big fan of parentheses as well. I think they are perfect for us “comedy” writers … it is where you can put all your little snide asides that add personality to a post!
Now I’m loving the ellipsis too! Let’s hear it for all the specialty punctuation!
Jenners´s last [type] ..Some Of My Dubious Accomplishments
I loooooove parentheses! My grammatical qualm with my coworkers is their use of ‘u’ for you, ‘r’ for are, etc in interoffice emails. They are educated people! I don’t get it.
She´s last [type] ..Wordless Wednesday
LOL….. love it.
My fav is the dot dot dot. I mean …
I use it all the time… (See?) I tend to write the way I talk and very often – TOO OFTEN actually, things give me pause.
Thus the …
I really have no idea.
Sheila (Bookjourney)´s last [type] ..Morning Meanderings… ………………………………………
All of this reminds me of a song by Dan Baird
(Chorus) I love you period
Do you love me question mark
Please, please exclamation point
I want to hold you in parentheses
Care´s last [type] ..The Accidental Billionaires
Ooooh the … that is my downfall. I am pretty good restraining my use of the parentheses in formal writing but probably use them a little too much in casual writing. So many things to remember! Can’t wait to hear about the dash.
girasoli´s last [type] ..fashion PhotoHunt
I loved this post – literally smiled through the entire thing. When I’m blogging, even I use parentheses wayyy too much. If you compared it to my writing for school, you would wonder if the same person could possibly be writing both. But I agree with you: I think that the less formal writing we do on here makes this a more comfortable and intimate setting. And that is seriously what blogs are for. So please, leave the footnotes for the workplace and bring the parentheses to the blog.
Jennifer´s last [type] ..Contemplation Corner- Mulligan
I do no editing of my blog posts. Bad for the reader, but more fun for me. The job of re-writing the manual sounds awful!
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