Period

A tiny round mark made by or as if by a pointed instrument.

A period. A dot. A point. Such very small speck but oh so important.

A dot is the basic unit of composition of an image when we print our text or graphics on paper. The dots determine how fine or clear the print out would be (or for a more technical term : the resolution). So dots are very important in printing. Without it, there would be no hardcopies or print outs.

A point, a decimal point to be precise is used to separate the whole or integral part from the fractional part of decimal number. Without it, it would be quite hard to distinguish the real value of a number. If you misplace the decimal point, a number would have an entirely different value. For example, 654.32 is very different from 65.432.

A period is used to indicate an abbreviation. It is also a punctuation mark indicating a full stop, placed at the end of declarative sentences. Without periods, everything would be run-on sentences. Nothing would denote a single complete thought. Everything would be jumbled up, utter chaos in the paragraph.

On a different paradigm, what if you missed your period? Your monthly period, that is. I don’t know whether to offer my congratulations or commiseration…….