Quote:
Originally Posted by menneske
Do you see that possible quality of difference between the period and the full stop?
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No. It's a simple difference between British English and American English, of which many are oblivious (typically Americans).
Arguing about is like screaming that there are no pavements, only sidewalks; no trams, only streetcars, etc.
In my native language, the period/full stop is called the "she-point" (hard to even convey it in English). What now? Am I going to philosophize as to what this name is supposed to signify or suggest?
Nope. It's just a
name. Each language has its own names for punctuation marks.
I do agree with Menneske that punctuation is extremely important to convey the
rhythm of the language. You recognize good writers by their judicious use of punctuation.
In particular, bad writers use only periods and commas in their writing (incorrectly at that, typically), while good writers make a
balanced use of most or all punctuation marks available at our disposal. Only a handful exist, anyway; a very poor arsenal to try and capture the lively rhythm of human speech.
So, punctuation is crucial. But arguing about what individual punctuation marks are
called, I find futile.
