end of story ?

dimsum · Post by **dimsum** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 12:51 am

i often read the sentence

Period. End of story.

i think i know what it mean. but i am wondering what the period imply ? as '.' at the end of a sentence ? to indicate end of sentence or something else?

Regards,

Qiang

dduck · Post by **dduck** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 1:03 pm

In English (and lots of other languages) we finish a sentence with a "." - in American English this is called a Period, whereas in British English it's called a full-stop (which is a clearer term).

The expression "Period! End of story!", is very emphatic. I think it's normally used to close a heated argument. In Britain some people hold up one hand with palm facing the other person and say "Talk to the hand (because the face don't wanna know)".

Iain

dimsum · Post by **dimsum** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 2:49 pm

thank you! Iain.

LarryLatham · Post by **LarryLatham** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 8:15 am

Iain,

Sorry to pick up from here at this late date, but you've peaked my interest with your comment about "full stop" being a clearer term than "period". Can you elaborate on that? It's the first time I've heard anybody say so.

Larry Latham

Qiang, will you forgive me for barging in on your conversation here? Iain gave you a good answer, and in doing so said something that surprised me. Since I am American and he is British, we sometimes have friendly arguments about the differences.

Larry Latham

dduck · Post by **dduck** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 12:44 pm

I'm glad I piqued your interest. I'm proud to bring to the fore a little of British culture!

I think "full-stop" is clearer because at the end of a sentence we stop, we don't just pause awhile to look around, we stop fully. I don't object to the US period, but the student may ask period of what?. Moreover, I'm not saying one is better than t'other, only that one is more descriptive, in my opinion.

Iain

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 2:21 pm

A justified question - Larry! It had disturbed me for a long time too! - and an excellent answer, Iain!
Thank both of you,
Roger

Lorikeet · Post by **Lorikeet** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 3:15 pm

Ah, thanks for the comments all. Clearly this is the end of this thread! End of Story. Full stop! (Uh, loses something in the translation, eh?

)

LarryLatham · Post by **LarryLatham** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 6:36 pm

Aaahhhh...not quite the end!

I'm glad I piqued your interest.

I did notice your correction here, Iain. Actually I originally wrote it that way, and then decided to look up pique. To my surprise, I discovered that it means "to cause a feeling of resentment", and I thought, "That's not what I mean to say!" So, I decided then to re-write it with a new spelling.

Uh... I also have a tiny quibble with your explanation of full stop. It could be argued that in listening to normal conversation, such full stops as you have described may not occur very often. People seem to emit rather a stream of noises without much stopping. Rather, I suppose, like the full stop most drivers make at stop signs!!! Moreover, a reader might not stop reading at the end of a sentence.

Come to think of it, I think "period" is the clearer term!

Larry Latham

dduck · Post by **dduck** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 8:20 pm

I'd love to know why Americans use "period". And I agree with Lorikeet, "period" is much punchier than "full stop" and for that reason I sometimes use it too.

According to Webster, pique also means:

2 a : to excite or arouse by a provocation, challenge, or rebuff <sly remarks to pique their curiosity> b : PRIDE <he piques himself on his skill as a cook>

Iain

LarryLatham · Post by **LarryLatham** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 8:40 pm

OK, Iain.

I have the feeling you are right about this, because I seem to remember having seen the phrase "piqued his curiosity" before.

But, I looked in two dictionaries (COBUILD, and WordWeb) without finding the definition you cite. Finally, after your last post, I went to my "comprehensive" Funk & Wagnalls, and found: 2. To stimulate or arouse; provoke. But the synonyms they give for the verb are: affront, annoy, chafe, displease, fret, goad, irritate, nettle, offend, pain, provoke, rouse, stimulte, sting, stir, urge, vex, wound. See Anger. Even if you accept the definition in your dictionary, that seems to me to be rather not like what I wanted to say.

All this leads me to wonder whether "piqued his curiosity" is a linguistic fossil of some sort and ought to be changed to "peaked". What say you?

Larry Latham

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 1:27 pm

Don't ignore the fact that "pique" is a French loanword, and as such it carries a good deal of its original meqaning. "piquer" in French simply means to "puncture", to "cause a hole", or to "arouse someone's interest".

dduck · Post by **dduck** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 3:15 pm

I suspect it comes from Latin, what exactly I don't know. But in Spanish (which I've come to learn is a vulgar latin) it means to bite, as in an insect bite. You ignore the mosquito until it bites into you (you're bitten ,"picado") and then you take an interest in it.

Iain

LarryLatham · Post by **LarryLatham** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 6:12 pm

Of course! I don't know why I didn't think of that, but it clearly must be a loanword, whether from French or Latin.

In view of that, I'll withdraw my proposal for change, and be content with "piqued my curiosity".

Thanks, guys.

Larry Latham

stephen · Post by **stephen** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 10:37 pm

Larry

You talk about spoken English, yet I've only seen full stops/periods in written English, so how on earth can spoken English be used as a basis for supporting the term period over the term full stop. I peronally can understand the basis of the term period, but I find full stop clearer (and also prefer it because it is British English.)

Stephen

LarryLatham · Post by **LarryLatham** » Sun Dec 21, 2003 6:24 am

I see your point, Stephen. Maybe the only way we can justify the term full stop is to remember that it may be named to contrast with half stop.

Period? I don't know how the name could be justified, or whether it has to, nor, for that matter do we have to bother justifying either name. Besides, the world lately has begun calling the little bugger a "dot"!

Larry Latham

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