Full Stop Ahead

Back in February, I wrote how I use "so" too much.  Many of us do it.  When we're speaking, we don't know how to end a sentence fully, and we trail off with a word like "so."

My solution was to say "full stop" at the end of a sentence.  (Boy, that sounds much better, doesn't it?)

Thanks to Joanna's post on why you shouldn't write in your readers' language and a small aside on full stop punctuation, I found this Wikipedia article on full stop.  I had no idea it's a real thing.  I swear I never heard it used in conjunction with punctuation.  Never.  (Of course, I could have heard this a long time ago, it lodged in my brain, and then decided to emerge in February.  Whatever.)

I'm just a little amazed that unbeknownst to me, I fell into using a term that was perfectly accurate and relevant.

Side note:  Firefox and Typepad don't like "unbeknownst."  They think I should use "unbeknown."  What is it about me and a more formal language?

Comments

[Joanna Young]

That's funny! I guess you must have picked it up from reading something or other that was written in 'British English'.

What's Typepad's problem with unbeknownst for heaven's sake? Though I have to confess, it's not too often you see it used in a blog post :-)

[Word Lily]

It's funny to me that you didn't know/realize what full stop meant. :) I thought you chose it in February because of what it meant.

Unbeknownst isn't the only word these silly tools don't know. I forget, but other words, that seemed perfectly normal to me, get that red underline in the Wordpress (Firefox) box.

[Heather]

I do know what full stop means - my mom's British, so maybe that's why? But I thought your post was going to be something different - I use "So" at the beginning of sentences too much :).

*So*, does that mean I need a "full go"?

[Dawn Goldberg]

I think we all just need a "so" siren that goes off every time we use it. That would probably break us all of the habit pretty quickly. :)