We have learnt that writing in all CAPITALS constitutes shouting in the digital world, but what about using ellipsis? You know, the three dots in a row. In writing this signifies the writer is Gen-X or Boomer and it can read as confusing, passive-aggressive or evenweirdly flirtatious to digital natives. Sending a text to younger generations saying “okay ...” suggests that there is something being left unsaid, which may indicate flirtation. But from an older relative this would be weird. Although the full-stop has already been outed as passive-aggressive in a 2013 think piece, two more of them could be interpreted as super pas-ag. It really is a total Gen-X thing because we are used to just trailing off because no one is listening and I just ...
Bad fiction awards
The annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest calls for entrants to “compose opening sentences to the worst of all possible novels”. This was a dishonourable mention in the Romance category. “Gloria’s feelings for Boris were nowadays more like the warm affection you feel for a pet dog, not a boisterous, extroverted dog but a cuddly, slightly lethargic dog, or even an old cat that just sleeps all day in its favourite spot so that most of the time you hardly even realise it’s there until one day it just dies without warning, rather than the fiery, intense passion of their early years together.” (Terry Drapes, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia)
