Ending Sentences With Periods Is "Intimidating" To Millenials, Experts Say
Full stops intimidate young people when used in social media communication as they are interpreted as a sign of anger, according to linguistic experts.
Teenagers and those in their early twenties, classified as Generation Z, have grown up with smartphones which they use to send short messages without full stops.
And a study from Binghamton University in New York suggested that people who finish messages with full stops are perceived as insincere.
Here we go again with a new volume in the "Yeah, No Shit" series. I mean yeah, no shit a period at the end of a text response is going to be perceived as an angered or intimidating one. Every last one of us have been there: it's 2am. The bouncer is shoving you out the door of the bar you struck out at while you're begging and pleading with him to ask the barkeep to give you back your credit card. You called an uber to call it quits for the evening and the black Hyundai Sonata is 4 mins away.
That's when you decide it's time for a Hail Mary. You fire off a text to the girl you picked up from the Hangge Uppe last winter. It reads, "what ru up to?"
It's a tale as old as time and always an exhilarating experience that makes your heart starts race. Will she respond? If she does respond, will she be down to hang out at 230 in the morning when there's literally one thing, and one thing only to do? The possibilities of what could happen are endless. Waiting for this exact response is like waiting for Christmas…
…x1000
Oh fuck, your Uber is here. You hop in, but fully plan on interrupting the conversation he's having in a foreign language with his family back in whatever country he's from to tell him you need stop by the local 711 to get some jimmy hats if need be, and not because you plan on using them, but because you need them for show in case you're asked if you have any.
It's now two mins into the ride home. No response. If things don't change quickly, the only thing you'll be getting into tonight is a box of leftover Chinese food that's chillin in your fridge. At this point, your mind is wandering all over the place and you can't think straight. You're also ready to rip your mask off as a means to express your frustration in the lack of a response.
You're now 2 blocks from home and "Jessica Hangge Uppe" hasn't responded even though in your heart of hearts you know she saw your offer of a 1 night courtship pop up on her phone. One block away now. Your palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. There's vomit on your sweater already, mom's spaghetti and all of a sudden, it happens.
She responds. "No."
Omg it's worst case scenario. Not only did she reject you, she rejected you in the most humiliatingly way possible: a "No" with a period at the end of it.
You try to play it off and act cool. You even respond by saying you want to hang out and get dinner with her this week as a means to bridge the "I only want to hang out with you in the hours between 2 and 10am" and "we should totally date!" gap, except she's shoving it back in your face with full stop sentences knowing fully how those responses are perceived. That's her prerogative, but she could have at least been less ruthless in her rejection. There's no coming back from this. At least not until next weekend when you'll do it all again.
So yeah, the long story short is this: full stop sentences are absolutely, 100% intimidating and no, we didn't need to commit time, energy or resources to a study to tell us that. Anyone who's capable of operating a cell phone already knows that.