Do you consider Fluther... a friend?

Do I personalise Fluther? No. I don’t give Dr Jelly a second thought actually.

I have just started on fluther. It’s great to be here. Let’s see where we go.

I consider some Jellies my friends.

The ellipsis signifies an omission. Did you mean to leave a word or several out of your question?

Fluther is an abstract concept, charming and fanciful as the Dr. Jelly symbol is. Over the years, I have made several friends among the participants.

This actually just reminded me of how long I have been here. I remember chatting in campfire with cheeb when the kid was in diapers. Pretty damn crazy the kid is old enough to have a motorbike that his mom doesn’t approve of.

No @gailcalled, it’s just another form of my feeling expression. It’s more like “I want to ask you a favor. Can you… help me do it?”

@gailcalled
I think Mimishu is writing in a version of English that’s different from yours. I’m using her dialect quite often as well. It has words you’d never use – like revert to someone – and uses commas and punctuation marks slightly different.

I feel that, in international English, the ellipsis is used far more freely than in standard English. Kind of a wildcard, to be used for… pretty much anything :-)

English is no longer a language owned by the English or the Americans.

And… one should say aluminimum and not aluminum. :-)

No

Who is Dr. Jelly?

@anniereborn The little jellyfish picture on the banner that is our mascot.

No, I consider Fluther a diversion but I have made a few real life friends here.

@whitenoise Not even the British say aluminimum. ;)

@whitenoise: So, would “Do you consider Fluther…a friend?” mean something different from “Do you consider Fluther a friend?” Meaning absolutely anything can have a certain weird charm but doesn’t really enlighten the reader, which is what standard written English is supposed to do.

Uses of the ellipsis

Aluminum or aluminium.

I have made a friend or two, but the only time I think of Dr. Jelly is when you mention him.

Dr J’s mah hommie, brah!

@dappled_leaves

LOL…. I gues they don’t. :-)

@gailcalled
You’d truly say that the primary objective of standard English is ‘to enlighten the reader’?

In my mind, if that was indeed the primary goal, than it seems awfully inconsistent in its spelling rules.

Language is a living model, not a frozen code set in stone. It is made and changed by the people that use it and that particle use of three dots is quite common. The international English is different from the one taught in the US or in Brittain. The usage of English has become so widespread, though, that no single country or group can claim to own it anymore.

There are so many people on this forum for which English isn’t their first language. We should every now and then be in awe of how well we all communicate.

That being said… Of course you’re right.

Fluther’s been there for me at times when nearly nobody else was. Course, the website didn’t very well have a choice in the matter, did it? :P

I consider Fluther one big party of fun and interesting guests. :-)

Fluther and I are pals, yes, but only a very platonic level. Is Fluther like Internet comfort food for the mind? Yeah, I think so, and I’m okay with that.