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ellipses omitted

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February 02, 2008, 14:00
Duncan Howell
ellipses omitted
Strictly speaking,( and I know that lotsa people around here don't want the be strict about these things Roll Eyes) is "ellipses omitted" an oxymoron?
February 02, 2008, 14:01
BobHale
er...does that mean that there is nothing missing?


"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
February 02, 2008, 14:06
Duncan Howell
quote:
Originally posted by BobHale:
er...does that mean that there is nothing missing?

Well, I dunno. If ellipses are omissions, it would seem that "ellipses omitted" means "Omissions omitted". Or something else. Help me out.
February 02, 2008, 14:38
Richard English
quote:
Strictly speaking,( and I know that lotsa people around here don't want the be strict about these things Roll Eyes) is "ellipses omitted" an oxymoron?

It might be - but what is the context?


Richard English
February 02, 2008, 14:55
Duncan Howell
quote:
Originally posted by Richard English:

It might be - but what is the context?


Well, I've seen it several times on this board, most recently a day or so ago in Shu's "Voluble Milton" post.
February 02, 2008, 16:59
tinman
You've got me stumped. I've never really noticed it before, but a Wordcraft search reveals 19 posts containing the phrase "ellipses omitted" in parentheses. Ellipses can refer to the omissions, in which case "ellipses omitted" makes no sense that I can see. Ellipses can also refer to the printing marks indicating the omissions, in which case "ellipses omitted" indicates to me that there are omissions but no ellipses to indicate those omissions. That doesn't really sound right to me either. An fficial&client=firefox-a" TARGET=_blank>internet search reveals that it's used in a lot of legal documents. Perhaps our legal adviser can enlighten us.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,
February 02, 2008, 17:22
tsuwm
I believe shu' is telling us there are omissions, but he's not showing us where.

but when you're copying citations, it does seem kind of pointless to copy the ellipses as well -- the original citer supposedly had good reason for the omission, but you may have none if you don't have access to the original material.
February 02, 2008, 17:24
zmježd
An ellipsis is a punctuation mark consisting of three periods (or dots, or full stops). It is not the text which has been omitted. The plural of ellipsis is ellipses. In Unicode, an ellipsis is a single glyph, …, and not three dots ...


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
February 02, 2008, 19:17
tinman
quote:
Originally posted by zmježd:
An ellipsis is a punctuation mark consisting of three periods (or dots, or full stops).

Thanks, zmježd. That's what I thought, too. But several online dictionaries I read said it could refer to the omission of words. When I reread them, though, I realized they were referring to ellipsis, the rhetorical device. (Thanks to Shufitz for that site.)
February 02, 2008, 20:19
Kalleh
I would take it to mean that those 3 dots (the ellipsis) were omitted. While it should be "ellipsis omitted," otherwise it seems clear to me.

However, it also could mean, "the omission from a sentence or other construction of one or more words that would complete or clarify the construction" (Dictionary.com/Random House Unabridged, 2006). In that case, I can see the confusion.
February 02, 2008, 21:40
tinman
quote:
Originally posted by Kalleh:
While it should be "ellipsis omitted," otherwise it seems clear to me.

Since it appears as "ellipses omitted" I have to assume it refers to multiple omissions, which would justify the plural.

quote:
However, it also could mean, "the omission from a sentence or other construction of one or more words that would complete or clarify the construction" (Dictionary.com/Random House Unabridged, 2006). In that case, I can see the confusion.

That's the rhetorical meaning I mentioned.