The Ellipsis

Having read a small fraction of my writing (because that’s pretty much all you’ve been getting over the last half-year or so, huge apologies for that) you perhaps will not be surprised to hear that I’ve designated myself a self-styled champion of the ellipsis.

And why not? I ask myself. In my opinion it’s one of the most underused and underrated marks of punctuation: much like its twisted and bitter cousins, Colon and Semicolon. In modern writing (and by that I mean the kind of writing you get in blogs and on phones and on whatever passes for the current equivalent of a toilet wall, which may, in all truth and for all I know, still be a toilet wall) it seems to have been ousted by the ubiquitous exclamation mark and the all too sinister and anarchic ‘no punctuation at all’.

In reality it’s much more subtle and mysterious than the exclamation mark and far less confusing than the question mark, which seems to become embarrassingly redundant at the end of ‘rhetorical’ questions such as: ‘could you please pass me the salt?’, a question that really isn’t a question at all but rather a statement of need and expectation.

Yes, the ellipsis really is a rather brilliant little thing.

So, please join me in my heartfelt praise of the humble and often misunderstood three little dots of ambiguity by joining me in a rendition of a freshly penned tribute, entitled:

Ode to the Ellipsis

An ellipsis is a funny thing; mysteriously fey.

It likes to lurk in shadows, then leap out shouting, ‘Hey!

If you thought I’d disappeared, you’re horribly mistaken.

I’ll build tension to a climax, jam-packed with expectation,

Then in the end, as sure as not, just leave you with a...’