Blog Pizazz

You'd think that after writing a 150 page thesis and blogging on a way more than daily basis for 6 months now, I'd be a pro at maximizing the keyboard capabilities and cool features... Or what I like to call "blog pizazz." However, on most days, I feel like I just let my daughter click on the "bold/italics/underline" bar and go from there. I mean, there has to be some rhyme and reason to using "s over italics, or bold over CAPS, right? So, blogging pals, enlighten me.

First up, it's the simple dilemma: "Quotations marks" OR italics. It's quite obvious to me that if you are actually quoting someone, you use quotes. Duh. Granted, you always have the Joey impersonators that like to use quotes just because they think they're "cool." (Like that. Heh.). But, what about when you are using slang? OR implementing a referral to specific word? OR using when using a "sound":

Saying the word "bulbous-headed" is like having mouth sex. Yum.

Or you just do this?

Saying the word bulbous-headed is like having mouth sex. Yum.

Now onto the more complicated run-on adjective that I think I may have perfected. Take for example the following:

She looked at me in a "are-you-a-freaking-lunatic-or-did-I-just-take-too-much-cough-medicine" kind of way.

Is that okay? Or should it be this:

...are-you-a-freaking-lunatic-or-did...

Or, should it be this:

"...are-you-a-freaking-lunatic-or-did..."

Still with me? Good. So, when do you use bold or CAPS? My problem is that bolded words are also my links, so I tend to use them sparingly. But however, does one emphasize something more than the other?

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?

or What the hell is that?

or What.the.hell.is.that?

HA! The dreaded periods. I still haven't figured out those puppies yet.

And finally, let's talk parentheses. For real. When do you use them? Like are we using them for the inside-the-head voices? (I'm pretty sure everyone thinks I'm a lunatic right now). Or do I need to use italics and the 'ses? (And if they don't then I think I may be driving myself crazy). Or is it just whenever we want to add stuff to our sentences and we don't want to make them run-ons (like this one right here)?

Is it me? Am I crazy to obsess over this stuff? Seriously people. I.need.a.life. Or is it I NEED A LIFE.

Ack.

Now go read my post over at Mommybloggers. Are you sick of following me around yet? Are you? C'mon. It's a good one. You'll get at least a mild chuckle or if you're HBM, I'm thinking perhaps a decent laugh.

Comments

[Idetrorce]

very interesting, but I don't agree with you
Idetrorce

[Mom101]

Dude, I totally make it up as I go along.

[Chase]

Hahah!

As someone who frets over these very things, I'm right there with ya : confused but lovin' it!

I'm always switching fonts for emphasis, too. It's a disease, I think.

[maria]

your blog...Your rules..i personally hate capitalizing, i despise the shift key. so i ignore it...thats why God made periods.

[Kvetch]

I know that I read things differently in my own head when they are in parentheses, quotes, italics or bold. Everyone must do that too, I have to assume, or all those little addendums to posts are really going to waste! In this comment alone I have started to use them all, including all caps, but smacked my own hand and did not. And I'll be darned, I think it sounds exactly, yes exactly, the same. Frankly, I'm partial to the dots...

[Dawn]

My rule of thumb? Use the finger Air quotes symbol at all times.

[Nancy]

I pretty much stick with anything that I can do inside the TypePad window without selecting text to format (i.e., bold or italic). It's just cause I'm lazy though.

I do admit to excessive use of hyphens -- can't live without them -- and keyboard based emoticons. ;-)

[Lisa B]

I'm just a fly-by-the-seat-of-my- pants kinda girl. Or is it "fly by the seat of my pants" kinda girl?

I do whatever the mood strikes.

No clue....

[Hill]

I like to use all three forms of exclaimation evenly, so as not to show favoritism toward one form.

I'm fair like that.

[TB]

Dude. My-head-is-spinning-and-now-I'M-thoroughly-confused.

THANKS A LOT! :o)

("if I would have had the ability to use bold and italics in this response, I would have done so")

[dear wife]

Really it is my husband, zygote daddy who would have more of a say here. He is the grammar lover, while I am more of the stream of conscoiusness type. But I will way in on the quotes, I am a quotes girl. They are especially useful for those instances when you wish to show irony in your word choice. That being said I must admit I am an air quoter, but it has nothing to do with anything from TV, I picked it up from one of my favorite college professors.

[Kara]

I have decided that blogging is an entirely different literary genre and therefore not beholden to the traditional rules of grammar and punctuation. At least that's what I tell myself.

[joy]

ok, i had all sorts of formatting and shit in that comment below--but your comments don't allow TAGS. I feel disenfranchized. And boring. My formatting was very clever, but it will never be heard. Such is the power of formatting.

[joy]

yup, you CRAZY b'ytatch, CRAZY...
(or are you?????)

[tracey]

Hilarious! I love the periods because they seem to have been born in the blog realm. Or have I been missing something all these years? My big problem in that I'm not hip to the abbrev. lingo. I never know what the hell anyone means when they do that. The one I just dicovered that really speaks to me is WTF. Love that.

[krista]

Hmm, maybe if I thought about things like this more people would read my site. Ha.

I just wing it. No method to the madness.

[mama_tulip]

I'm an italics whore. I'll write something and go back to re-read it and realize that like, every second word was italicized. I just try to write how I hear it in my head, LOL.

[reluctant housewife]

Ha ha!

I was thinking of writing on the same topic after my search for "Blog Style" came up short. I swear!

[misha]

Who cares?

[Pattie]

I am guilty of all the above. I often think that I KNOW I am NOT following the proper rules of grammar, punctuation, etc. But who cares? Although, the thought of my 6th grade English teacher reading this with her previous career in the military and her obsession for propriety makes me sweat with nervousness.

[Noelle]

Another English student/grammar junkie weighing in on how she does it:

- Quotation marks vs. italics: quotes reference a word, while italics change the tone of the word. Your second, italicized example "sounds" more suggestive to me. (Quotes are also used to indicate that a word is being used loosely, or that a better term doesn't exist.) The word "yum" by itself is just a statement, but italicized, it's kind of naughty.

- Run-on adjectives: I usually just hyphenate and go, without using italics or quotation marks.

- Periods: a period between each word slows.everything.down. The pace can be adjusted by using a space in addition to the period, or by capitalizing: "slow.down" is slower than "Slow. Down."

- All-caps: I'm always hesitant to do this. It's so often unclear as to whether capitalization is emphasizing or shouting.

- Bold: In so many blogs, bold = link, so I don't use it for emphasis. The one exception to this rule is the "ta-da!" moment. As in: "I have discovered the greated thing ever: [bold term]." Ta-da!

- Parentheses: best when used for that inside-head voice, or when mentioning something that's only sort of related to the rest of the paragraph. I use them way too often, usually as an alternative to saying, "Incidentally,..."

What about "creative" spelling? As in, "This comment is long and boooooring!" It's not punctuation, but it's an important stylized blog element.

[Asha]

Heh! You've got your own wonderful style, Kristen, and that can extend to your punctuation, too. That said, the grammar geek in me is dying to grab the floor, so...

I admit to being sick. of. the. period. after. each. word. Overdone. I like italics over quotes, generally, but with exceptions. Bold and caps should only come out when you need serious emphasis (hardly ever), although caps are way funnier than bold (why? who knows.). One way to think of it: use caps when, in your mind, you're yelling whatever it is you want to say. Strikeout can also be used with great comic effect. I'm the queen of overusing parens, so I'll remain silent on that topic.

[Christina]

Aw, geez, now I'm all self-conscious of my writing. Should we all get together to author the Bloggers Guide to Writing Style? Maybe it should be a panel at Blogher: Italics or Quotes?

The worst part is realizing I'm inconsistent with my use of quotes, italics, etc. Whatever works for me in the moment, I use it.

[nonlineargirl]

You wrote this to torture closet grammarians like me who love this kind of stuff but are embarrassed about it. I should have been a copy editor.

Since you asked, I think:
-CAPS are for emphasis. REALLY. Easily overused.
-Parentheses are for thoughts that you want to add but don't exactly fit the flow of the paragraph. (Like mentioning that I wanted to italicize exactly in the previous sentence, but held back.)
-I'm torn about quotations. Also overused, but useful. Not for emphasis, but for quoting or to indicate the meta-use of a word. As in, this sentence is talking generally about the use of "words".

(Wow, how's that for the most boring comment ever?)

[jozet]

I thought I was excused from grammar class since I gave the teacher a...an apple.

You know, I have a degree in English, and basically, I figure that gives me a lot of leeway and license to make up things as I go along. However, for the "lay writer" (use of quotation marks to indicate somewhat ironic usage of terms...okay, and goofiness) I suggest that they also just wing it.

Jeez, it's almost summer! My head is already at the beach.

I splatter a copious amount of dots like this ... and .... around in my writing. And I love hyphens and dashes, but don't ask me the differnce. One is longer than the other, but really, isn't it about the motion of the ocean, not the size of the dash? One English prof told me that overuse of ellipses (and I'm not looking up the spelling or pluralization of that, so there) and dashes is a "feminine writing characteristic", but what does he know. He was bitter that his last wife left him for a sign-maker.

Anyway, now I'm self-conscious and have to go find a style manual. Thank you. And it's almost summer. ;-)

[J.]

I had to come back and say congrats after reading your interview and your piece.
Congratulations!!!
I look forward to 'following you around' some more!

[J.]

RULES?
There are 'rules'???
Get. outta. here.

[stella]

yes...i use the () to indicate the voice inside my head.

i use. periods. like. this. when i want to make sure that you are reading each word with pause.

as for the quotes, or he said, she said, they said....i tend to use '' puppies instead of actual quotes. i probably am not consistent... and i hardly ever use bold.

i should more often though. and upper casing seems to be effective for major emphasis.

good luck with that. i try not to over think it...although I do agree that some folks are guru's with making their writing 'look good' AND read well.

[Kristen]

I like your questions - it's true that each writer seems to do her/his own thing with each blog pizazz item. Personally, when I use the run-on adjectives, I don't quote or italicize, I simply hyphenate and move on. And I use italics for my thinking voice, quotes for real dialogue USUALLY - unless I'm over-emphasizing something and want to do a written version of the hand quotes (like Joey). I only use parentheses for true parentheticals (like this one, and the one above). Wow, this could go on forever. Stopping now.

[Carolyn]

I regularly employ the (inside voice) parenthesis. Perhaps you should author a style guide book for bloggers so we all maintain consistency. You're right there should be some kind of standard.

[Sunshine Scribe]

I don't know which was funnier - your post or HBM's comment. You two could be an ex-prof stand up team.

I was just thinking about this blog pizazz thing the other day. Because I don't know the rules, I just change it up. I am terribly inconsistent on purpose. I figure that is like a roll of the dice... I've got to be right for the etiquette police at least part of the time that way. Sad but true.

Followed you to your interview on Mommybloggers. Very funny and fabulous as usual. Good for you. Blogging supastar :)

[Petite Mommy]

Wow! I was the first comment! Cool!

[Redneck mommy]

You mean there are rules??? I have been happily tapping away at my keyboard, ignoring blogging etiquette.

Oh dear!!

[Her Bad Mother]

Can't find your post over there! Must. Find. Post.

Need. The. Laugh.

(Punctuation here indicates pauses of suspense or portent between words. Oh. My. God. Full stop between each word. Saying. Something. Slowly.

Pay. A.ttention.

Bored yet? Sor. reee.)

And, FYI? (Question mark indicates "uptalk", concluding phrase in questioning tone.) (Scare quotes indicate colloquialism that I am not necessarily comfortable with but must use for lack of better or more descriptive term.) Will follow you anywhere! Am like new girl in high school that desperately wants to hang around with super cool chick who is also super smart and super nice and so will tag along and make kissy face and smooch buttocks!

(And will self-deprecate for laughs and approval!)

(And will drop pronouns for emphasis!)

(And punctuate excessively)

(Ditto usage of parentheses!)

(And will hog comment space!)

[Petite Mommy]

Well, I really don't know the answer to your questions. I just write informally most of the time.

I used to write in APA..LOL... but I don't write formally on my blog.

I guess maybe I should use better grammar and some type of writing style but I don't. I guess I'm kind of careless when it comes to my blog.

Should blogs be written in APA or MLA? LOL...