Writes, Punctuation Book and Finds It's a Best Seller

The new York Times ^ | January 5, 2004 | SARAH LYALL

[Lurking Libertarian]

How about the etiquette book which advised, "do not break your bread, or roll in the soup"? Or, "eat every carrot, and pea on your plate"?

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[Cicero]

We heard this joke from one of my grandchildren at Christmas. Only the Panda shot the piano player before leaving.

[Atlas Sneezed]

There are many possible reasons for the tremendous success of "Eats, Shoots & Leaves," a spritely volume that leads the reader through the valley of the shadow of comma splice; refers to the apostrophe as "our long-suffering little friend"; makes a rousing case for the semicolon's usefulness in, among other things, "calling a bunch of brawling commas to attention"; and describes Woodrow Wilson's inexplicable visceral hatred of the hyphen, which he called — spectacularly undermining his own argument — "the most un-American thing in the world."

Pretty clever paragraph.

[freedox]

I commented to my husband just the other night that I think things like this are the wave of the future. We've gone about as far as we can go in the "anything goes" direction......I think the next trend will be a restoration of the social graces.

[nothingnew]

"Punctuation," Ms. Truss replied, when her taxi driver asked what she planned to talk about..... "Ooh, in that case," he replied, "I better get you there on time!"

Archie Bunker nightlighting again?...BWAHAHA!

FMCDH

[Red Boots]

For those so inclined, how about The Apostrophe Protection Society? Their website, www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk is a hoot, with a great 1 page review of the rules concerning apostrophes.

[IronJack]

Punctuational reactionism? An idea whose time has come.

Grudging thanks to Miss Brady, who made my own repentance unnecessary.

[Billthedrill]

OK, I know it's an oldie, but here's an example of the importance of punctuation:

Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy--will you let me be yours?

Gloria

Is slightly different from:

Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?
Yours,

Gloria

No, it wasn't a letter from BtD's old girlfriend...

[Cicero]

James Joyce hated quotation marks.

[Erasmus]

For those so inclined, how about The Apostrophe Protection Society? Their website, www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk is a hoot, with a great 1 page review of the rules concerning apostrophes.

I'll sign up if you and two more friends do. Then we can become the Four Horsemen of the Apostrophe.

[Atlantian]

My 17 y.o. son and I just went through The Apostrophe Protection Society's website. The real life examples were great. My son realizes he needs more work on the difference between "its" and "it's".

The punctuation errors on the headstones were very sad. Lesson #1, don't go into the headstone business if you don't know proper punctuation.

[SeeRushToldU_So]

I need this book

[T Minus Four]

I must have this book!

[T Minus Four]

I love that Frank McCourt doesn't use them either.

[Revolting cat!]

So literacy is now "pedantry", huh? If so, that's because the morons not only outnumber the rest of us, that's always been the case, but because they have been made to think they're equal! Welcome to egalitarian communism.

[Revolting cat!]

There, they're, their, it's, its, you're, your, yore, how many here, yes here, can tell the difference?

[Petronski]

What happened to the punctuation in the title? Is that supposed to be irony?

[Old Professer]

Most of us have trouble telling time.

[Old Professer]

Apparently, you didn't read the entire thread; for your own safety, stay away from bars that pander to Pandas.