I do this so much at work and have to constantly remind myself not to overdo it (otherwise people will think I’m crazy).
this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2023
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I've learned to back off and realize that commas, instead of parentheses, often work just fine.
But I've already used commas to add more information to the sentence, how can I fit in more information without parentheses?
Stand over the person reading it and interject.
Consider the humble “em dash” — some people use it to interject a completely different sentence in the middle of another — the next time you’re trying to avoid parentheses.
You can, although probably should not, use semicolons; they can be used to join related statements that could, very frequently, also stand on their own.
Forget what everyone else said. Brackets.
Yea I try to do that too. And then make sure it doesn’t end up a ridiculous run on sentence. 😭
Just introduce yourself to people as a 19th century German philosopher, they'll understand.
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Occasionally replace the parenthesis with a semicolon – or dashes – and you can get away with it more often.
The thing is - and I say that from experience (being somewhat on the ADHD spectrum myself) - that there are no limits to how many of these you can use; or at least that's how it feels to me (sorry!).
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I am guilty of overusing em dashes — I just think they're aesthetically pleasing, even if they're often unnecessary.
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im like small sentence (heres some back story though (and some deeper context thats needed (also something vaguely related to thing))).
Usually by my third edit I’m ready to send. Of course, by then I’ve begun to question if anyone is interested in my option anyway and why am I sending this email? They probably know all this already and I’m too stupid to have realized it.
oh god I do this all the time, excessively, and have to rewrite emails and posts multiple times to get rid of them as much as possible. sometimes I'll be writing a parenthetical and need to nest others within it..
It's hard.
"Nested Parentheticals" can totally be the title of my 15,000 word autobiography. lol
{Nested [Parentheticals] - (An Autobiography), By Admiral Patrick}
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It gets fun when the side thought is longer than the original and starts getting side thoughts of its own. The context needs more context or nobody will get it.
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I like to use ellipses cause I never fully finish a thought…
Stahhhp... I do that a lot more that parentheses, and now you've made me self-conscious about it lol
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The other day I wrote a sentence with parenthesis and inside the parenthesis there was a comma phrase, a dash, a colon, and a semicolon on here. Only realized how much of a monstrosity the comment was after writing it, but posted it anyways.
Fuck (Well happens to me (sometimes even nested))
Linus Torvalds used nested parentheses in his famous Linux announcement email (1991-08-25) so I think precedent says they're OK.
I do it quite often here and I think of them as footnotes to my writing, because they are tangential thoughts, but still important to what I'm trying to express that it shouldn't be considered a bonus: the asides are more like a public "note to self".
It also makes the writing feel more raw and stream of conscience-y. (I don't have a better word to describe it.)
stream of conscience-y
I think that's why I relate to the OP tweet so much. When I'm writing a text or comment, it's usually in a inner-voice type of thing where I'm imagining myself speaking directly to the person. And I definitely speak with lots of parenthetical "bonus thoughts"
When I'm writing out something important, an official letter or work email, etc. I take my time to form the full thoughts and put that all down in writing as properly as I'm able to.
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Fuck, this is totally me.
Me (check my comment history.)
And then the bonus content comes with its own bonus content (which also comes with its own bonus content [and so on]).
Is this an adhd thing?! I haven't been diagnosed but this community makes me think too many times "i thought it was just me".
Because of the tweet did i have to remove my bonus thought it felt unnatural in this context 😂
Back on track: Sometimes do i want to add a parentes in a parents and it hurts every time.
No. A lot of "ADHD thing" tweets/memes are just quirks common across a wide spectrum of people. That they happen to also be common in those with ADHD is just coincidental.
For parentheses specifically, it's just a personal writing habit, and there are other ways to communicate "a thought followed by a bonus thought" without having to use them — hell, parenthetical clauses themselves don't have to use them. Parentheses in particular are probably a result of some people being taught that "a sentence is a complete thought", which is a nice description for someone just learning grammar, but also not actually true.
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I always wish it was easy to "hyperlink" parts of my sentence. So that they could hover over it and see my explanation for that part. But alas, that would be too much work.
Is this one a common trait? I love writing, but I have to constantly rewrite because every sentence uses parenthetical tangents.
ha ha I do that
Fuck. I go into parenthesis, then brackets, and I've even gone into curly brackets before.
This is a thing, eh?
And ellipsis…because there’s always more and we don’t want to stop.
I do this in almost everything I write out (almost, somethings don't need clarification).
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I thought this was just me. I’ve been saying that a lot lately.
I do that all the time- although I often prefer hyphenated clauses (because they look classier)- but I also use a lot of parenthetical phrases (I don't think I have ADHD, but my daughter does).
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Don't forget braces {} if you have an especially rambling sub thought.
Anytime I get to a point where I even need to consider using braces or brackets, I know that's when I need to rewrite the whole thought lol
A semi-colon would have been more appropriate in this context (but less ironic)
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