When Did People Start Using Punctuation?

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The earliest writings, which were syllabic and/or logographic (think Mayan and Chinese), had no need for either spacing or punctuation, as each word was typically self-contained in the symbol.

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[TodayIFoundOut]

Now that you know when we started using punctuation check out this video and you'll find out Split Infinitives are Not Incorrect Grammatically:

[AngelaRichter]

They'll never take my Oxford Comma!

[sketchesofpayne]

Hoped you might address where the various brackets came from. () [] {}
Did they originate in mathematical notation?

[TheSerialHobbyistGirl]

I'm a historian and documents even as late as the mid 18th century are painful to read. There is no, or random, punctuation, ideas are difficult to separate making them ambiguous, inconsistent spelling even within the same sentence is rampant and, quite frankly, I have no idea how people actually understood everything written in those documents. And top it off, they were so repetitive. And mind you, these are not personal papers I'm working with, they are official government correspondence where knowing exactly what the letters, orders, and decrees said was essential. I guess they were just used to it, and yes, the more you read writing like that the easier it becomes.

And as a side note, 18th century Spanish documents and letters are more difficult to read and more erratic than 18th century English documents.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Use the Oxford comma. It's the difference between "inviting the strippers, Stalin and Lenin" and "inviting the strippers, Stalin, and Lenin"

[calichef]

I have always over-punctuated. When I did my stint as a writer I had to go through everything I wrote, multiple times, to remove the excesses before turning it in.

[WardOfSouls]

For people wondering when the decline in use of punctuation and standardized spelling started, it came far before the rise of the internet. A good place to look for this is actually in telegraph, where the cost of a message was calculated by the number of letters sent. The same is true in newspapers; the kind of contractions and abbreviations common in "textspeak" and Twitter were just as common in classified advertisements.

Basically, any time cost or technical constraints limit the amount of characters used, people will find ways to pack as much information into as few characters as possible.

[Turandot]

I want to tear my hair out when I am compelled to read comments on YouTube that are completely bereft of punctuation. Why is a simple full stop such an alien concept to many?

[Serai]

Overuse of the comma is still a problem. It's amazing how even some published authors will salt their sentences with way more commas than are necessary.

[liquidminds]

Do "When And Why Did People Stop Using Punctuation" next. It has something to do with the internet, but that's all I know. ;-)

[JeremyWS]

Personally, I think we don't have enough punctuation marks. For example, we don't have anything to convey sarcasm. It would be nice to not only have punctuation marks that tell you how to read the sentence, but also what emotion to put into the sentence. It often angers me that people on the internet can't see my body language. We need a textual way to display body language.

Great video, keep up the good work.

[TheZacman]

Could you do a video about what happened to all of the Austrian people with he last name Hitler after WWII?

[VivaVavaVoom]

After watching your videos over the past year, I think you need to take more of those 3 unit pauses. You're blasting us with information like a machine gun. Slow down and talk to us.

[sherrillsmith]

I love your videos, Simon! Many thanks for the continual explanations. As a retired Human Resources professional and life-long history lover, I can see and admire both sides. Julius Caesar was renowned for being his ability to read pages of unbroken lines at first sight, while most senators needed translations from their clerks beforehand.

On the other side, it is fascinating to now witness American courts explaining failures to corporations and other entities that they (ignored from their HR staff and) lost for want of a comma in official contract and paperwork. They and their attorney had read that it was easier to ignore the British mark and no longer stylish to insert it. Times like these are when HR people suggest raising the companies’ Errors and Omissions Insurance coverage.

[Red_Oliver]

"...and established the form of light punctuation, that, indeed, endures, to this day" - lol

[Serai]

THAT WHICH IS IS THAT WHICH IS NOT IS NOT IS THAT IT IT IS

[daisy]

When people write a big long thing with NO punctuation, no periods, commas, nothing, I find it so rude! It’s as if they’re saying, “I want you to read what I wrote, but I don’t give a shit if it’s difficult for you.”

[Pheatrix]

"We are eating grandpa."
"We are eating, grandpa."
Use punctuation. It can save lifes ;)

[FirstLast-frhb]

I like eating dogs my neighbors and small children
I like eating, dogs, my neighbors, and small children.

[loopslytle]

I wish you had mentioned my favorite obscure punctuation dog's bollocks. I first came across it in study the US Declaration of Independence which uses it several times. The first time someone explained the dog's bollocks to me I thought it was a joke, until I looked it up. It is pretty obsolete now, but every once in a while I will see one. It look like this :- .