Three Dots…or how I came to accept the Ellipsis

I once read or heard that when you reach a certain age you have good days and you have bad days.

But I think that sentiment can be applied to most age groups with the exception of infancy.

When you’re experiencing chronology-old age, the good- and bad days are directly related to your aches and pains.

The mental part of it, which includes how you perceive the world, how it sees you and how you react to everything in between is what ends up deciding how things go, generally-speaking.

I remember when I used to be suspicious of people who used words like “generally-speaking,” in either written- or spoken-word fashion.

Why, you say?

Because generally-speaking, those kinds of word combinations cause me to tune out what comes after them; I just do so without even thinking.

Generally-speaking, generally-speaking…this tends to soften the after blow.

…

I read a teaser snippet somewhere that landed me on the Wall Street Journal’s website.

There are a couple, not more than two or three sentences, then… dot dot dot…

That’s right…that’s it.

The ellipsis…also know as “three dots” in lesser circles…

I used to think I was of lesser circles, because quite frankly, the thought of more, even larger circles (than already exist), seems not as much of either an efficient or productive use of my time.

But old three dots is the blogger’s best friend. You tend to find these kinds of things out on less warm and rainy days when wondering if something will come out (that sparks you).

Three dots comes in handy and always has; it’s the lesser statesman of the semi-colon, despite its state of “wholeness” casting a large shadow down upon the less-than-intact semi- colon by comparison.

…

The article I wanted to read in the Wall Street Journal was about something, or opened up with (remember I only got a snippet) something about a line of how 12 years ago Steve Jobs released the iPhone and how people are no longer amazed by it anymore.

And that was it unless you include the ellipsis.

It was, anyone could agree, the rightful end of the story to me by virtue of my lack of a Wall Street Journal subscription.

I remember the first time I encountered the journalistic paywall. But I can’t remember the site; only that the lesson was learned.

I was a little upset. But now I get it.

This time it was easy to back out entirely and move on.

…

But the iPhone and mobile phones in general no longer possess quite the magic they once did.

So we wonder what will come next.

And we try to envision what it could be.

Then we back out of that thought and glance back down at our phones.

…

I think what we value says a lot depending on what day it might be.

That kind of thinking might be part of what one could say was a good day or a bad day.

Or it could also just have been needing the kind of grace and alacrity that only Three Dots or the more highly-browed Ellipsis…can provide.