This is a good point and worth making, but if I can mega-nitpick your writing style for a moment, I think this post overuses ellipses. It’s noticeable and distracting, and I don’t see how it adds anything to the post.
I also have a tendency to overuse semicolons; in my post, I used even more of those than I did ellipses. I often tend to over-use hyphens, as well—though I don’t seem to have suffered that flaw this time. (I also use many more brackets than most people (including nested ones), which some people find a bit off-putting.)
At least a tad more seriously: English only has so many forms of punctuation to transition from one thought to the next, each of which has a somewhat different subjective flavor. I started reading early enough that I sometimes claim that the deep structures of my brain grew to incorporate more textual elements than verbal ones; each time I use an ellipsis instead of a period (or hyphen, or semicolon, or etc), it’s generally because the thoughts I’m trying to express feel, to me, as if the transition is more like that of an ellipsis than anything else.
I do try to remember to make at least one sweep through anything I write for editing, after I write the first draft; but, though people have occasionally commented on my textual idiosyncrasies, this is the first time I recall in which they’ve been described as distracting. I’m certainly willing to adjust my writing style in order to more effectively get across my points… but as I re-read my post, considering each ellipsis, they read to me as inserting something very much like a verbal pause, in order to emphasize the difference between what comes before and after—a pause greater than a comma, but not quite enough to break apart into separate sentence fragments. A semicolon isn’t quite appropriate; the sentence still continues, grammatically no more interrupted than with a comma. A hyphen could certainly work, though I tend to think they’re better used as minor brackets.
Do you have any particular/concrete suggestions, other than ‘use less ellipses’?
My true rejection of ellipses is that I associate overuse of ellipses with conspiracy theory-style writing (e.g. “you might think that Obama isn’t a lizard-person… but you’d be wrong!”). It reads to me like overconfidence in the shock value of your insights. You might decide not to care that I think this, but I don’t think I’m alone in having this association.
Here are more specific suggestions about how I would replace each of your uses of ellipses.
The reason I’m posting about this book here… is that it’s giving me some new perspectives from which to consider the whole cryonics subculture
Delete this ellipsis.
I still have two-thirds of “Debt” to go… but, at the moment
Delete this ellipsis or replace with a period and rewrite the beginning of the next sentence.
What’s even more interesting is that if this idea has any actual basis in reality… then it offers the possibility of coming up with approaches to counter it
Replace this ellipsis with a comma.
One possible alternative approach might be to take the thought experiment—what if we could revive someone from cryo not next century, or next decade… but tomorrow
Replace this ellipsis with a comma and italicize “tomorrow.”
This is a good point and worth making, but if I can mega-nitpick your writing style for a moment, I think this post overuses ellipses. It’s noticeable and distracting, and I don’t see how it adds anything to the post.
I also have a tendency to overuse semicolons; in my post, I used even more of those than I did ellipses. I often tend to over-use hyphens, as well—though I don’t seem to have suffered that flaw this time. (I also use many more brackets than most people (including nested ones), which some people find a bit off-putting.)
At least a tad more seriously: English only has so many forms of punctuation to transition from one thought to the next, each of which has a somewhat different subjective flavor. I started reading early enough that I sometimes claim that the deep structures of my brain grew to incorporate more textual elements than verbal ones; each time I use an ellipsis instead of a period (or hyphen, or semicolon, or etc), it’s generally because the thoughts I’m trying to express feel, to me, as if the transition is more like that of an ellipsis than anything else.
I do try to remember to make at least one sweep through anything I write for editing, after I write the first draft; but, though people have occasionally commented on my textual idiosyncrasies, this is the first time I recall in which they’ve been described as distracting. I’m certainly willing to adjust my writing style in order to more effectively get across my points… but as I re-read my post, considering each ellipsis, they read to me as inserting something very much like a verbal pause, in order to emphasize the difference between what comes before and after—a pause greater than a comma, but not quite enough to break apart into separate sentence fragments. A semicolon isn’t quite appropriate; the sentence still continues, grammatically no more interrupted than with a comma. A hyphen could certainly work, though I tend to think they’re better used as minor brackets.
Do you have any particular/concrete suggestions, other than ‘use less ellipses’?
My true rejection of ellipses is that I associate overuse of ellipses with conspiracy theory-style writing (e.g. “you might think that Obama isn’t a lizard-person… but you’d be wrong!”). It reads to me like overconfidence in the shock value of your insights. You might decide not to care that I think this, but I don’t think I’m alone in having this association.
Here are more specific suggestions about how I would replace each of your uses of ellipses.
Delete this ellipsis.
Delete this ellipsis or replace with a period and rewrite the beginning of the next sentence.
Replace this ellipsis with a comma.
Replace this ellipsis with a comma and italicize “tomorrow.”