Sherry 主編最近回顧A financial reporter is a funny state of being. I am certainly no financial expert (I majored in English and Asian film studies, and I imagine if I had majored in economics, I would opt for other better-paying finance-y jobs), yet my job requires me to be an expert of a sort. I speak to many experts in my field, including investment bankers, debt brokers and traders. In fact, talking to the right person(s) is often what makes stellar news stories. But what if the right person(s) doesn’t want to talk to you?

Well, now enters the personality. Sure, I am professional, courteous, but I also want to connect with my sources on a personal level. It is after all a conversation. And it needs to go both directions, hence the extra seasoning with questions like “How was your [vacation/weekend/day]” or “What are you doing this [weekend]”, as well as throwing in a little about myself and various doings.

But what to do when I was given… the ELLIPSIS?

Ellipsis sorta, kinda drives me crazy. As minions can… (image credit: Universal Studio/Web)

What’s an ellipsis? Well, an ellipsis (plural: ellipses) is a punctuation mark consisting of three dots: “dot dot dot” that is used when omitting a word, phrase, line or paragraph.

Word of the Day: Ellipsis 
Ellipsis 省略號（shěng lüè hào/ㄕㄥˇ ㄌㄩㄝˋㄏㄠˋ）to omit/leave out/abridge.

Ellipses can also express pause, hesitation, change of mood, suspense and unfinished thoughts. And this is where the punctuation mark got me, unnecessary dot dot dot when it comes to email.

I wrote:

Again, thanks for taking the time to chat with me. Appreciate it, as always. Have a wonderful long weekend, cheers!

Response:

You too…

Two words and ellipsis. Why not just end with a period? What’s left unsaid? What emotions/thoughts were left unexpressed? Oh well… (ha!)