Why are we still so afraid of using the grumpy old period?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/magazine/ending-sentences-period.html

8•samclemens•5d ago

Comments

Hasz•1h ago

bah humbug. In the age of LLM edited text, having a distinct style (be it written or spoken) is a breath of fresh air. AI has already ruined the em dash, no need to let it ruin your unique voice, style and cadence.

aquariusDue•49m ago

Hear, hear. I used to dislike low effort replies and comments that were written hastily and contained spelling/grammar mistakes, weird turns of phrase or even feeling incomplete like two different thoughts mashed together and presented as they happened to be. Now I just enjoy them, flawed as they are someone bothered to "hand-craft" them.

rdtsc•1h ago

> people appeal to the internet, terrified they’re hindering their careers by striking the wrong balance; they seek advice from job coaches ...

They do? It seems strange to me people are terrified about this and they need coaching about how many periods or commas to put around their "lol"s and "heh"s. If this is what terrifies and scares us, we are paradoxically both doomed, and at the same time doing pretty well, given what the top item on the agenda look like.

bigstrat2003•50m ago

What is this article talking about? Nobody is afraid of using periods.

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