I'm not really one to complain about people's habits of speech (this
is a lie) or writing (doubly so) but one thing puzzles me:
What exactly is the point of ending sentences with tildes? Whence
does this custom originate? How is it pronounced, with what
intonation? Why the hell are you doing it, anyway?
Is it a stand-in for the traditional weird sentence endings, like
"nyo" or "desu" or "no da?" Does it suggest uncertainty? Are you,
perhaps, so very enthused that your words stand in danger of
floating away? Is it meant to express being cut off mid-thought, like
some kind of gentler dash?
Or perhaps we must range further afield, and consider the shape of the
glyph? / Is it a string or a wave or some fluttering bird, or perhaps
the top half of a fish? / Does it float in the wind or resemble a grin
or suggest a word gently bobbing? / What, in short, has inspired this
habit, and does it show signs of stopping?
. . . Okay, that's enough with the Lewis Carroll for me. Clearly he's
sunk hooks deep into my brain.
words from chris, 2009-01-30 01:01:16, los angeles
