That string of periods … is called an ellipsis. An ellipsis serves two purposes:

1. It shows omission.

For example, if you intentionally leave words out of a direct quote you would insert an ellipsis in place of the words you are leaving out.

Say I’m quoting from Shakespeare’s original text, which says “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.”

But for some reason I don’t want to include the entire quote (perhaps to save space.)

I would write “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players…and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.”

Here the ellipsis stands in for the phrase I deleted “they have their exits and their entrances.”

One trick when using the ellipsis in this context is to not unintentionally change the meaning of the original quote, so you’d only use the ellipsis to stand in for nonessential information.

2. It shows hesitation or an incomplete thought.

So, for example, let’s say I’m writing dialogue and my character says the following:

“I like you, Ralph, I really do, but…”

The ellipsis shows that my character is hesitant to give Ralph the truth.

In the case of your PC message “Please wait…” the ellipsis could be construed to be used for either purpose. 1. Perhaps it’s an ellipsis of omission as in “please wait, but I’m not going to tell you what you are waiting for. Or 2. Perhaps it’s an ellipsis of hesitation, as in “please wait, but I’m not sure I want to tell you for what.”

Thanks for the comment and thanks for reading our blog! Cheers! Naomi