congrats

FordFalcor

What does this mean??

I've seen it all over TB and sometimes, I fully understand the intent. Like in response to a drive by BFP on TTGP or as a sarcastic reply to something stupid.

But if you commonly say "congrats" with no punctuation [or capitalization for that matter] are you being sincere?

I'm not trying to stir things up, I'm genuinely curious. This is inspired by all the birth stories I've been reading on other BMBs.

GingerBabyTX

Punctuation and capitalization are your friends.  It's the same reason I hate getting "k" as a reply to a text message.  Lack of punctuation and capitalization, to me, says, "I don't care."

RissNRuss

I would assume sincere (cause I'm hopeful) but maybe lazy or mobile? Plus.. the full word is one of those commonly misspelled words. And I have to use my phone browser, and I lose punctuation completely if I'm mobile.

FordFalcor

GingerBabyTX:

Punctuation and capitalization are your friends.nbsp; It's the same reason I hate getting "k" as a reply to a text message.nbsp; Lack of punctuation and capitalization, to me, says, "I don't care."

See, that's kind of how I take it too.

hjk5000

GingerBabyTX:

Punctuation and capitalization are your friends.  It's the same reason I hate getting "k" as a reply to a text message.  Lack of punctuation and capitalization, to me, says, "I don't care."

Basically this. I could be way over thinking it but "congrats" with no punctuation or follow up seems sarcastic to me. That's just how I read it.

FordFalcor

RissNRuss:

I would assume sincere cause I'm hopeful but maybe lazy or mobile? Plus.. the full word is one of those commonly misspelled words. And I have to use my phone browser, and I lose punctuation completely if I'm mobile.

lol I want to believe it's sincere! I abbreviate the word as well but it's the lack of an exclamation point that gets me. Maybe I love !! too much.

Stardust54

If all it says is congrats with nothing else I would consider it sarcasm...if I say it it's more along the lines of "aww!! Congrats!! I know you're excited!"

smithm24

GingerBabyTX:

Punctuation and capitalization are your friends.nbsp; It's the same reason I hate getting "k" as a reply to a text message.nbsp; Lack of punctuation and capitalization, to me, says, "I don't care."

This. Sometimes I'm lazy on FB and only put "Congrats!" But I always make sure that it is capitalized and has punctuation. It just doesn't seem sincere without it.

No longer the best

I do it because sometime in the moment I get stuck on the proper spelling of 'Congratulations' so to save myself some embarrassment I just type 'congrats'. Although I do usually use capitals and I love me some !!!!! 

SLaBM2B

Great question.. I will tell you how my responses should be interpreted.

If I type "CONGRATS!" Or "Congrats!!!" or anything with a "!!!" at the end, I am being very  sincere and am genuinely happy for the person.  I normally do this when I "know" the poster or I communicate with them often.

If I post "congrats" and that's it, I am probably in a rush to read another post, or want to show my support but may not know the poster, so I don't "care" as much as I would a person that I am all "!!!" with.

If I really don't care, I won't post anything at all.

kgb-13

It would seem more sincere with an exclamation point, or 2.  Although I ink I am an over-user of them!

heavenpaige

I am guilty of no cap or punctuation sometimes but mostly bc I'm normally on my mobile. I sincerely mean it but can be a pain typing extra out on my phone.

FordFalcor

Ah. All of these replies make sense.

heavenpaige, I'm glad you replied because I know you're a sweetheart and I've seen you type "congrats" so I figured I just HAD to be reading too much into it.

flerlgirl

I try to punctuate and capitalize. Otherwise I'm probably just being mean.

FordFalcor

flerlgirl:

I try to punctuate and capitalize. Otherwise I'm probably just being mean.

I checked to make sure your reply was punctuated and capitalized. Phew, we're cool.

heavenpaige

ihearttab:

Ah. All of these replies make sense.

heavenpaige, I'm glad you replied because I know you're a sweetheart and I've seen you type "congrats" so I figured I just HAD to be reading too much into it.

Thx tab.