Check out those commas ( , ) ~ seen here at top of that circle in a group of four.
That's what I am, expressed as punctuation : a comma !
Oh, I used to feel that I was an exclamation mark ( ! ) ; but I'm not, and now doubt whether I ever was (except for brief amounts of time).
Definitely a comma
,
yep. that's me.
A comma signals that there's more to come. That characteristic, in one of those eerie coincidences, also is a feature of the meaning of my formal first name, which supposedly means "one who adds," or so I've read.
The comma conveys the feeling that the thought or action or imagining or hope or joy expressed is just one in a series, and not,
like the period,the end of things ( . ), or,
like the question mark, an interrogation ( ? ) , or
like the exclamation point, an indicator of emphasis or surprise ( ! ) , or
like parentheses, a clarifier or whisperer { ( ) } , or,
like quotation marks, a sign of attribution ( " " ) , or,
like the colon, an equalizer or set up for examples ( : ) , or,
like the semi-colon, a connector ( ; ) , or,
like the apostrophe, a reducer or owner ( ' ), or,
like the hyphen, a compounder or co-joiner ( - ) , or,
like the dash, an interruption or change in direction ( ~ ), or,
like the CAPITAL LETTER, an indicator of prominence ( IMPORTANT ), or ,
like the asterisk, a wild card that can mean many things ( * ), or,
like the ellipsis, an indicator of missing things ( . . . ) , and, finally,
speaking of missing things,
I trust I have not left out any punctuation commonly used in the English language.
Anyway - I now feel that many of us are commas, save for those moments when we find it necessary or unavoidable or just plain fun to venture into being more like those other realms of punctuation, but those times are marked by their celerity.
Yet we all know people who are most akin to periods - those folks whose primary activity in life seems to be stopping things.
The question marks are relentless in their questioning of everything.
As for the exclamation marks, they can be exhausting to be around, with all of their enthusiastic drama constantly on display.
Parentheses are a curious type, with all their furtive asides.
Quotation marks are in a never-ending quest for legitimacy by using others' words.
Colons (no potty jokes here) are pedantic, giving us plenty of examples.
Semi-colons (no half-potty jokes here) are joiners.
Apostrophes are ownership-oriented or reductionists.
Hyphens are multi-tasking over-achievers.
Dashes can be - what's the word - distracting, what with all the changes in direction.
CAPITAL LETTERS are so obviously screaming for our attention.