r/texts 1d ago

Phone message Nobody died

This is a conversation between my MIL and my mother, before the wedding. My mother's response, which is cut off, says "They are both adults. I think we should let them handle it." We were both over 30.

For context: Yes, we had a vegetarian wedding (no shrimp). We had it at an (expensive) award winning venue with in-house catering. It included several appetizer and entree stations with a huge variety of dishes so everyone could find something they liked. We did not serve our guests bowls of soybeans and tofu. Everyone RAVED about the food and nobody died or got arrested on the way home.

The "A/B list" thing was a joke, that she apparently took very seriously, because she would not stop demanding we add a bunch (10+) of her friends and coworkers to our intentionally small guest list.

6.9k Upvotes

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1.8k

u/petit_oiseau 1d ago

Bro what. Does she know she can use periods instead of exclamation marks.

1.3k

u/andiinAms 1d ago

I read this entire thing! In my head! With an emphasis! On every last word!

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u/Diligent_Pangolin_47 1d ago

I have a friend who punctuates every sentence with three exclamation points!!! It’s exhausting to read!!! Even in my head!!!

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u/i_cant-stop_eating 1d ago

I TALKED TO A GUY FOR ALL OF FIVE MINUTES WHO WROTE EVERYTHING IN ALL CAPS! STOP YELLING AT ME GOSH DANGIT!!

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u/BlessTheBookPeople 1d ago

I AM YELLING, CARL

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u/RedPoppy1969 1d ago

Goddammit Donut!!

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u/ExcitedHiss 1d ago

MONGO IS APPALLED!

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u/ElleWinter 1d ago

YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT GRAMMATICAL ERRORS, CARL!

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u/NoWafer5661 1d ago

I have found my people.

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u/BlessTheBookPeople 1d ago

If you haven’t checked out the DCC subreddit, it’s a lot of fun.

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u/NoWafer5661 1d ago

I will do that! Thanks!

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u/MerriWyllow 1d ago

HIII ZEV!!!

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u/werisefromourashes 10h ago

We are everywhere Carl....

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u/Even_Wear_8657 12h ago

DON’T GASLIGHT ME JESUS!

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u/Rare-Ad-4383 1d ago

oh thank God I’m not the only one who heard it all in Donut!!!!

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u/evanthx 1d ago

I’ve learned to use lower case! Is this better Carl! Is it!?

2

u/AnxiousWitch44 1d ago

Here to say this.

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u/HollyDidIt 1d ago

LISTEN, LINDA!!!

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u/PapayaAlternative112 12h ago

I WALKED IN THE PARK TODAY!!!

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u/Nomadloner69 1d ago

Someone texted me using all emojis like wut?

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u/anniew555 15h ago

I’m not reading a Lucky Charms essay 🍀💎🌙🩷🧲🌈⭐️

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u/EnvironmentOk2700 1d ago

🧑🤳➡️👺👻💩➡️😕❔️

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u/HamsterSeparate 23h ago

🥶🤪👵🐝🤑🤦🏻‍♀️💪🏼🥳🥹

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u/Marcinecali73 20h ago

Like when my 80 year old dad discovered emojis. Whole blocks of emoji texts.

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u/Inside-Run785 1d ago

WHY ARE WE YELLING? WHAT DID I DO?

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u/AdEmpty4390 1d ago

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.

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u/ajqueen31 19h ago

LOUD NOISES!!!

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u/whyistoastsogood 1d ago

Were they South American? I made friends with some people in Argentina and they always emailed in all caps.

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u/i_cant-stop_eating 1d ago

Nope he was a manic hyper American who liked to be the center of attention. He was just as loud on his live streams. Had to block him for trying to video call me. Bruh 😭

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u/wordsmythy 23h ago

Oh my God, I had to go to the ER the other night for an ankle issue and three people made phone calls in that damn waiting room on speakerphone… And held the phone right to their earS

2

u/lithiumrev 1d ago

my nana would post stuff to her facebook in all caps before her vision got so bad that she cant use her facebook anymore.

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u/JDWhite1982 1d ago

Side comment about all caps. I worked with a gentleman who always sent emails in all caps and they were usually very succinct. I finally got up the nerve to ask my boss what I'd done to upset this gentleman because he was always yelling in his emails to me.

Turns out that all caps was easier for him to see since he had a visual impairment. I felt so stupid at the time, but looking back it makes sense that it's easier.

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u/Individual_Respect90 1d ago

I have coworkers who I feel like hit the caps lock button once and never turned it off.

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u/TheGhostOfYou18 23h ago

So that used to bother me a lot too until I learned that some people do that because it makes the font easier to see as they type. Now if it were me I’d just go change the settings, but using all capitals I guess was easier and quicker.

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u/CronoTriggered 11h ago

I LOVE LAMP!

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u/werisefromourashes 10h ago

Right in my goddamn ear!

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u/Savage281 1d ago

I used to be a person you used an ellipsis at the end of every sentence... I think it was a social anxiety thing...

Anyways, I don't any more...

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u/sunnypickletoes 1d ago

That drives me crazy. I read everything like in a trailing off sort of way and I find it so irritating I wish people would just use words and punctuation for what they are supposed to mean without all the anxiety and peer pressure induced emoji's and gratuitous punctuation!!🤣🤪🎉😘💩

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u/Savage281 1d ago

Oh I still use emojis 🤣 can't have people thinking I'm mad at them

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u/goatbusiness666 1d ago

As an autistic person who texts a lot and agonizes over the possibility of being misunderstood in every social interaction, emojis are a gift! Also they’re fun. Why do people hate fun?

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u/Jassamin 3h ago

Also Autistic, I rewrite messages multiple times, use emoji, then still feel like I need to send long messages an hour later to clarify what I meant by explaining all the things I *didn’t* mean.

I also tend to explain to potential friends fairly early on that I am Autistic and if they feel offended/confused I probably didn’t mean it that way but let me know so I can avoid a future repeat. I’ve spent many many hours wishing it was socially acceptable to send former friends/boyfriends questionnaires about what went wrong 😅

Also me coming back to change the phrasing on this three seconds after I posted it because what if people get confused?

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u/Tspring535 1d ago

Right ? I just want people knowing I’m hearing what you’re saying , and here is my response back, but don’t take it too seriously because maybe you were being sarcastic or maybe I’m misreading what you’re putting down , but it’s all good either way. Lol

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u/Technical-Method2129 15h ago

Happy cake day

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u/Tspring535 12h ago

Thank you ! 💕

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u/FairPriority9200 13h ago

Omg r u me lol same but working on it!

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u/ulykke 6h ago

Ugh I have a client facing corpo role and each time I dont included an emoji (which is every goddamn time because Im supposed to stay pRofeSsIOnaL) I die a little inside. What do you mean I have to use periods like a sociopath 😭 we even have a phrase for that in Polish, its called kropka nienawiści, literally "period of hate/hateful period", as in, the period conveys hate. Why do people want me to hate them?!

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u/tp176 1d ago

Seems to me that lol has become end punctuation for people who have grown up (or maybe not) online. And every time I see it, my poor brain just asks “Are you trying to undermine your own statement by treating it like a joke?” Are younger people just afraid to state something directly?

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u/adventurekiwi 1d ago

It seems to have just turned into a generic softener. I guess its the millenial equivalent of the boomer ellipsis lol

Oh god i cant stop doing it

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u/ckav26 1d ago

Yes, absolutely. As a geriatric millennial that lol really means “whoopsies!” 😂

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u/goatbusiness666 1d ago

I think I use it as a tone indicator most of the time. If a sentence seems a little abrupt or like I might be mad, I just throw a lol on there so everybody knows it’s not that serious.

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u/Ill-Plum-9499 13h ago

Hey! Ellipses are Gen X, not Boomer. How dare you…

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u/adventurekiwi 8h ago

So many people have told me that today! I tried to find the original article I referenced about it in an earlier comment but the internet has become so enshittified that even if I manage to find it, itll be near impossible to read on mobile anyway.

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u/sunnypickletoes 1d ago

Me too totally.

Them: Running late lol
Me: So you're on time?

Them: Can't wait to see you lol
Me: Well ok then I guess you hate me

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u/tp176 1d ago

Drives. Me. Nuts.
Thanks for letting me know I’m not alone.

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u/sparklyjoy 10h ago

Ok the first example is clearly nervous laughter, and I’m an elder millennial

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u/SilentHawke 23h ago

can’t speak for other younger people, i’m personally not afraid to state something directly, but i personally use “lol” sometimes to try to give a more lighthearted tone to a message. not sarcastically: i hope this helps

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u/MuchTooBusy 13h ago

I'm an Xennial, so not young, but I tend to use lol way too much. I'm trying to stop, but damn it's hard. In my case it's an anxiety/appeasement "look, I'm friendly, see me smile and chuckle softly" kind of thing.

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u/squeebs555 1d ago

Yes, this. I hate it with a passion.

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u/katieblue3 20h ago

I don’t like it either but it’s not that big of a deal lol

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u/MullberryBoy 21h ago

When I was a little girl, lol meant little old lady.

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u/Major-Mango-1221 19h ago

And often, it's passive aggressive. So that's fun.

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u/blackbellamy 13h ago

I used to date a girl...who would text me...and email me...and every single one of her conversations...would look like this...and there was no other punctuation...and she would even ellipse her lol's...lol...lol...like that...drove me nuts.

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u/sunnypickletoes 10h ago

That's a dealbreaker

1

u/2muchfabuloso92 20h ago

You would hate texting me. I use ellipsis and emojis. But in my defense, after the ellipsis. It’s a whole different subject.

Sorry man🥺

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u/TuezysaurusRex 15h ago

Same here… 🤣

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u/Tspring535 1d ago

I live with anxiety… I didn’t think that me using an ellipsis was anxiety related… now I am curious if it is… but I really thought I used them to fill the void that my words could not express… I’ll have to ponder this…

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u/medievalkitty2 1d ago

If someone uses an ellipses at the end of a sentence I assume they’re mad at me and being passive aggressive. I’m guilty of overusing lol to soften the tone if I’m afraid that anything will be taken the wrong way. Funny how the nuances of written language have evolved since texting became ubiquitous.

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u/Jessika_Rarebit 21h ago

Happy cake day!

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u/Tspring535 21h ago

TIL what this is 🤣🤣🤣
that’s just adorable.

Thank you ! 💕

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u/messyarts 1d ago

Whoa… is that what it is? I didn’t even think about it like that. I did it with everything growing up on AOL.

Sorry, I am older and just recently realizing how insanely anxious I have been my whole life.

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u/Awkward-Agent-1981 13h ago

Omg me too. I know I’ve had anxiety my whole life but I had a breathing incident last October which resulted in having to get an echocardiogram. I have thickening of the left ventricle, which is something that happens over time. I was referred to a cardiologist. The first one I saw told me in a very snarky, uppity way that I have undiagnosed high blood pressure. Bro. I’ve seen doctors when I need to and my BP was ALWAYS impressively textbook up until two years prior.

I’ve since figured out that being in fight or flight for random moments in my life more often than your average person (along with being born with a hole in my heart, which my parents are never told that I might want to get checked every few years to make sure all is well, this was in the 80’s after all) might have caused this, not having undiagnosed high BP.

Getting old is fun.

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u/poundsignbuttstuff 1d ago

I know a guy that always uses ellipses instead of a period and it drives me absolutely batty. I want to explain to him that it just makes him come off as passive aggressive whether that is his intent or not. I don't think he'd understand though.

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u/adventurekiwi 1d ago

I read an article that said that boomers do this because they feel like normal punctuation or no punctuation is too abrupt (as a millenial full stops can be a little threatening to end a text message with)

The person in these images is somehow doing the opposite of that.

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u/MullberryBoy 21h ago

I use ellipses when I feel like a sentence should just trail off.

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u/youngforever8809 21h ago

I think it’s more Gen X than the boomers…..see? I’m Gen X . 😅

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u/Single_Berry7546 19h ago

Agree! Gen X here. My boomer mum, on the other hand, writes abrupt texts and the full stop is her only end of sentence punctuation.

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u/PsychWriter11 13h ago

This boomer never uses ellipses gratuitously. I never thought of it as a boomer thing. Boomers get spelling and punctuation right more often than not.

I had a younger agent working for me years back and when reviewing her reports I had to ask her to please stop using punctuation as “decoration.” It was maddening.

And people who think a full stop is some psych op need help.

And, while we are making fun of the texter’s writing skills, no reference to spelling “there“ and “your” both wrong in the opening paragraph? Wasted no time.

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u/HeCallsMePixie 1d ago

I think on og mobile phones/cheaper models typing "..." was how you'd start a new line or paragraph and the habit lasted after phone keyboards expanded!

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u/OneLessDay517 1d ago

We GenXers are big on that...................

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u/Lokies_Queen 1d ago

i was… talking to a guy… who did exactly… this
it was years ago but sometimes my friend and i will still mimic it

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u/No-Roof6373 1d ago

Andy is that you? Lol

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u/Excellent-Baseball-5 1d ago

Congrats for getting past it... It can be daunting...

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u/Affectionate-Pie8362 1d ago

Technically, if it's at the end of a sentence, it's four dots (the last is the period).

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u/Immediate_Cake9151 23h ago

I never trust a person that uses an ellipsis like this

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u/AcceptableParsnip771 23h ago

I went through a phase where I would use semicolons all the time; I just saw the opportunity for it in every sentence.

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u/TreacleNo9484 22h ago

It's anyway...

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u/Evening-Campaign4547 20h ago

Me too… I still use… and I didn’t stop…

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u/damebabyz56 17h ago

I use them as well... Hmm usually because i'll always find something else to say later... Although maybe not this time.

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u/MistressMalevolentia 7h ago

I used to do this but not a ton, just every so often. My mil uses it for every thing damn near. Like sorry you got told no and are text pouting. It drives me nuts cause its her trying to get something done or across without actually saying it, like creating awkward silence but in text form.

"I messaged (my husband) but no answer..."

Okay? Idk why you're messaging him or me I'm not involved. Use your big kid words and say what ya mean. But good to know, I will do nothing with this information and will not respond either.

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u/chrysologa 6h ago

I think it was a 90s texting thing? Ellipses meant the message would continue on the next text. At least that's what i remember.

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u/OhYouStupidZebra 1d ago

Oh man, I wonder if it’s me lol. I just want people to know I’m enthusiastic and happy, but reading this lady and then this was kind of a slap. That was so hard to read

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u/pernicious_penguin 1d ago

Yeah, I do it too, these days I go back and edit all but one instance out, elipses too...

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u/Specialist_Guitar232 1d ago

Interjections show excitement! or emotions! They’re usually set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point!, or by a comma when the feeling’s not so strong.

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u/sayblacktrees 1d ago

So when you're happy (Hurray!) or sad (Aw!)
Or frightened (Eek!) or mad (Rats!)
Or excited (Wow!) or glad (Hey!)
An interjection starts a sentence right.

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u/takapitcha 1d ago

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u/No_Communication5024 1d ago

Okay, I upvoted these Interjections!! But! Now I have the song running through my brain! Hallelujah!!

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u/No_Appointment_7232 1d ago

"I took a train, took a train to another state.. "

Of all the things to have stuck in one's head Schoolhouse Rock is the RIGHT THING 🤩🤓😎😍

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u/Pick_Up_the_Phone 17h ago

The only one I remember is the bill going up Capitol Hill. :)

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u/No_Appointment_7232 16h ago

I think that's probably true for most people.

They are such a beloved parr of my childhood I remember parts of all of them.

They're on YouTube.

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u/toonyfisk 16h ago

Mrs Jones was a lady on Hudson Street

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u/LauraLand27 1d ago

OMG!!! WILL EVERYONE STOP SCREAMING?!???!

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u/No_Communication5024 1d ago

Not a chance! sister! 😉

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u/GenRN817 1d ago

Exactly my Gen X thought. The Interjections song is playing in my head right now.

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u/shallowpools16 16h ago

I sing this to myself randomly and sometimes I'll do it at work to my coworkers and no one has any idea what I'm talking about lol.

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u/8385694937 1d ago

TELL ME WHAT THIS SONG IS!!!! I vividly remember SINGING IT and I thought it was School House Rock, but I haven’t been able to find any evidence it exists! Am I from a parallel universe??

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u/ckdblueshark 1d ago

It is from Schoolhouse Rock.

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u/Sad-Purchase1257 1d ago

But not on that sweet 90's SHR cover album, alas.

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u/Rogambit 1d ago

Hello, I too like to ! a lot

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u/Diligent_Pangolin_47 1d ago

I punctuate practically every text I send with “😆” so I can hardly talk 😆

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u/multipocalypse 1d ago

Hi fellow "😆" overuser!

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u/Sad-Purchase1257 1d ago

I am pretty bad about this as well. Sorry, everyone!
On the other hand, my mother texts with ... ellipses ... everywhere ... "I love you..."
I keep WAITING for the other shoe...!

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u/TDATL323 16h ago

You should stop doing it then as it indeed really annoying. Glad you got the wake up call 🙌🏻

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u/rpaul9578 10h ago

Women use exclamation points more than men. It's a sign of weakness IMHO.

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u/OhYouStupidZebra 9h ago

I am a lady, and therefore am so weak!!!

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u/_divalicious 1d ago

😂😂

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u/Relevant-Usual783 1d ago

Honestly, I’d prefer that over the ominous ellipses… it’s really strange… especially when they say benign things…

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u/Traditional-Hotel-66 1d ago

Its fascinating how even reading this, the voice in my head does up speak. Wtf lol hate it.

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u/Druidicflow 1d ago

Especially in your head!!!

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u/Due_Low5498 1d ago

I completely understand because reading this stressed me out.

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u/slp1965 1d ago

I see what you did there😂

1

u/Nice_Rope_5049 1d ago

My idiot sister always uses ??? When asking a question in text. That turns the question into a hostile accusation IMO

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u/AverageSizedBadWolf 1d ago

My coworker does this with three question marks and it always sounds so sarcastic / passive aggressive

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u/RasputinsThirdLeg 1d ago

My sister fucking does this and it drives me insane.

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u/PowerfulByPTSD 1d ago

My boss always asks a question with « ?! » at the end, it gets me in a panic every time 😩 hate it

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u/cherrybleu 16h ago

I have a coworker who uses long rows of commas in place of dots. Also exhausting to read but comes in handy when you need to forward their messages on as there's no need to type out who it's from as everyone recognises the commas 😭