The Twitter ".@", the most passive-aggressive form of communication in the known world, has made its way into politics.
At some point in the last fortnight Britain's political leaders have discovered that putting a full stop in front of their rival's name on Twitter is a way of broadcasting party lines, while also attempting to deliver a political slap down.
Using the humble ".@" ensures that all of the politicians' Twitter followers – and not just the individuals crazy enough to follow every party leader – are treated to the attempt to start a conversation.
For some reason it's taken the endless debate over the TV leaders' debates to introduce this form of communication to Westminster.
First out of the traps was Nick Clegg, who tweeted this one-two ".@" last week.
This is the same Nick Clegg who regularly meets with the prime minister in his role as deputy prime minister. Just 90 minutes after sending this tweet Clegg was awkwardly sitting next to David Cameron in the House of Commons.
Then Ed Miliband had a go, sticking it to Cameron with this ".@" attack.
A week later and Cameron himself started to get involved, although he eschewed the ".@" in favour of a sort-of subtweet.
Which then prompted Nigel Farage to start ".@ing" Cameron in return.
Then the UKIP leader started ".@ing" Ed Miliband.
Then the UKIP leader just went off on one.
Welcome to the general election, 2015 style.
None of the party leaders have actually started to replying to each other yet. But it's only a matter of time until our leading politicians start hate faving, indulging in manual RTs, and starting self-indulgent ask.fm sessions.