The other day my daughter sent me a WhatsApp message informing me of her evening programs. “Beautiful.” I answered. Then I reread it and noticed that something was wrong. The point. After “nice” I had added a point. How do you do it in Italian when a sentence ends. Epper rereading it, that point had a hostile air, he was there to tell her that the conversation ended there. It was like the “step and go” of the radio transmitters of the past. That simple point made or could make the comment “beautiful” downright sarcastic and therefore aggressive. All we need is a misunderstanding of this kind with adolescent children. I took it off. Much better.
Then I came across an article from the New York Times titled “Don’t put a period at the end of the sentence anymore when texting a young person” Why? The author explains: because there is no need for a period to indicate that a sentence is finished at the end of the message, it is obvious; and if despite this you decide to put a point, in a formal way, it is as if you wanted to establish a distance and in some cases even quarrel. Like when you suddenly call your children their full name, without diminutives or pet names. When you are angry. Can a simple point create all of this? Yes, because the messages on WhatsApp follow other rules of grammar and syntax, they are often like vowels even when they are written, in fact, the boys cripple the letters to do first. And not only that: they use emoticons to give the true meaning of the words. A good morning followed by a smile is one thing, without it is an icy greeting.
In all this, the point changes its meaning but does not disappear, as happened a few years ago at the semicolon. It resists. But if you are not angry it should be used with caution. Point.
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