Gen Z confused why older generations use ‘Boomer ellipses’
This generational texting habit might be worse than using capital letters.
When typing a large paragraph, older adults might use what has been dubbed “Boomer ellipses” — multiple dots in a row also called suspension points — to separate ideas, unintentionally making messages more ominous or anxiety-inducing and irritating Gen Z.
“What, exactly, is going on with boomers and ellipses?” one Redditor inquired earlier this year, saying that their mom’s texting drives them “up a wall.”
“It comes off as passive-aggressive at worst, insane at best.”
The user gave an example, explaining that their “Boomer neighbor” writes types like “Thanks…”
“Like what the f–k else needs to be said or implied? Why not ‘Thanks!’ ‘Thanks.’ or ‘Thanks :),’” the irate Redditor said.
Commenters in the forum offered possible reasons for the “chronic” ellipses issue, like “bad education” or a way to signify “gaps between thoughts.”
But Adam Aleksic, also known as the “etymology nerd,” revealed that it’s really because Boomers “grew up following different rules for informal communication.”
“Nowadays, if you wanna separate an idea, you just press enter and start a new line with a new thought,” he said in a TikTok video.
“But it made less sense to do that for writing postcards or letters where you had to save space, so people back in the day learned to separate thoughts by using ellipses.”
Because the punctuation now implies something more than its intended use, he continued, it is perceived as “hesitation, annoyance or passive aggressiveness,” since that is how Zoomers and Millennials typically use ellipses.
Despite the confusion, Gen Xers and Boomers aren’t ready to part with the three menacing dots.
“I will probably use the ellipses until the day I die. It’ll be on my tombstone, it’ll be in my obituary,” a creator who goes by Gen X Jess said in a video online, arguing that her generation, in turn, is still trying to learn Gen Z acronyms and slang terms.
Fellow TikTokkers likened the ellipses to a “pregnant pause” or as a way to signal “etc.,” arguing they “love the ellipses” and “can’t help” but use it.
“You’ll have to pry the ellipsis out of my cold dead hands,” one viewer commented.
“Gen X here and I will NEVER let it go,” another agreed.
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