A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air. 'Why?' asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
'Well, I'm a panda,' he says, at the door. 'Look it up.'
The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. 'Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots, and leaves’.
The final phrase in the story made the title for Lynne Truss’s amazing book "Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation". What can be amazing about a non-fiction book on punctuation, you’ll ask? Well, it’s witty in practically every page, in some places screamingly funny! The punctuation marks are made alive, each with its own character, such as here: “Meanwhile, the illiterate default punctuation mark is nowadays the comma, which gives even more cause for alarm”. And the author illustrates it with this:
“The tap water is safe to drink in tea and coffee, however, we recommend using bottled water for drinking, it can be purchased very cheaply in the nearby shops”. Do you see what’s wrong with it?
The descriptions of most ordinary subjects are sparkling: “In the family of punctuation, where the full stop is daddy and the comma is mummy, and the semicolon quietly practices the piano with crossed hands, the exclamation mark is the big attention-deficit brother who gets over-excited and breaks things and laughs too loudly.”
Truss proves by dozens of vivid examples, both popular and unknown, that punctuation is not an issue solely reserved for the elite educated classes:
"woman, without her man, is nothing" and "woman: without her, man is nothing".
In our SMS style life do you think punctuation marks to be a stupid extravagance as well as capital letters? Or you are among punctuation sticklers? What’s your opinion?
To write or not to write capital letters and punctuation marks is a difficult question. It's a matter of taste, education and time. I'm a typical teacher ('strogaya uchilka' as my boyfriend sometimes says), so I try to apply rules whenever it's possible, but I must confess that sometimes I use too many emoticons in my texts. By the way, speaking of texting, there is a book "Txtng. The gr8 db8" by David Crystal. I read it several months ago and it was fun! Full of interesting facts, cartoons and humour. If you're interested I can send it to your mail;)
ОтветитьУдалитьZero tolerance approach to punctuation? Not sure if I can take that... It just doesn't work for me... Whenever trying to text or email somebody, might spend like 15 minutes to revise syntax or spelling... Take it from me: skipping commas or caps won't get you anywhere!
ОтветитьУдалитьPS: Though I'm really into things like H2CUS (hope to see you soon), H8 (hate), F2F (face to face) or BTW (by the way)... They prove useful when it "cumz 2" saving time :)
lol)))Irina Aleksandrovna, this topic is connected with me only by 1 point..i mean capital letters.i don't think that it's very important to write every first word according to the rules, but i'm sure that punctuation must be even in sms..to be frank, i hate when smb writes to me with mistakes, nothing to say about disappeared commas!..it irritates me..why!?'cause even i try to write correctly, so... my friends, do me a favour and send me messages without silly mistakes))) (it was some kind of advertisement and request) =)
ОтветитьУдалитьAs for the shortenings, i love them!) imo (in my opinion),it's a very interesting topic and a lot of words can b said about it. But the main point is that it saves our time,as Talgat has already mentioned about it!)between U and YOU, i chose just 1 letter..it's easier to press only 1 button of the keyboard))..and it doesnt mean that i'm lazy!..but on the other hand......)))lol)))
Anna Aleksandrovna
I see! I can't say absence of capital letters "irritates me", yet I prefer them 2 b in their places. By the way, u might use panda story and other ex-s from here in class! And recommend them to others.
ОтветитьУдалитьI was taught from early years to respect punctuation. Don't mind TXTNG mode at all. But someone's omitting punctuation marks unfailingly attracts my attention like a sign of ALERT to be careful with right understanding the received information. Sometimes (God, forgive my philological snobbism) I think the doing-well-without-punctuation person is just an ignoramus.;)))
ОтветитьУдалитьEdgar Allan Poe said that the writer who neglects punctuation is responsible for the misunderstanding that would result from what he wrote. I hate reading SMS without any punctuation marks! It makes me reread it again and again... Whenever a punctuation mark is missed, a little fairy dies :(
ОтветитьУдалитьWow, this book is really cool! I mean, it`s so colorful and the process of learning the punctuation marks is becoming more and more exciting. Now I understand the great importance of the punctuation marks and that sometimes they can lead to misunderstandings in the process of communication. For instance, I like this one: "Look at that huge hot dog!" and "Look at that huge, hot dog!" Well, of course, when it`s written we can easily understand the real meaning, but when we face with such situation while talking with someone it can be understood in the wrong way! And sometimes it can be funny, as well. To be honest, I have never thought, that punctuation marks are so important! You just have straightened me out!
ОтветитьУдалитьPersonally, I do my best to be a stickler to punctuation. I don’t mind people making mistakes, though. However! I do hate glaringly rough mistakes, as they certainly prevent you from understanding the complete sense of something one says. In order not to be understood too literate, here’s some sort of example: punctuation marks serve as a certain agreement between the reader and the writer, violating which you put aside the whole point of writing text messages.
ОтветитьУдалитьRegarding the text I can only say that profound knowledge along with a good sense of humour can indeed work miracles, and Lynne Truss is a living example of it. Apart from presenting a good deal of really useful information on punctuation (and much more) the author peppered the whole book with catchy examples, wordplay and jokes.
What I definitely liked about the book is that the author managed to find a «golden mean» in punctuation and proved that nowadays the rules are constantly changing for the sake of the fashion, and that process is inevitable. I guess the conclusion is evident: being a punctuation zealot may be useless, but being an ignoramus can be even worse. Is it up to ourselves to decide which way to follow? Indeed it is.
Well, to my mind punctuation does really make sense. I used to hear such words from people: "Why should I? I'm too lazy to do it.". To say that I'm shocked is to say nothing. I don't think it is laziness that prevents people from doing it, but their neglect of the language. It doesn't really take much time to put this small, but significant mark to its place. But it's one side of the coin. Sometimes people try to boast of their knowledge and put commas to the places where they shouldn't be. At least, they have tried.. But..
ОтветитьУдалитьThis book is a nice example not only for children, but for grown-ups as well. My favourite example is about a crazy student. It shows that a small comma is tremendously meaningful. The pictures show the same. Maybe, Truss' idea was that careful attitude to any language starts in childhood?
To err is human. And everyone can be mistaken. Personally, when I make a mistake, I try to coreect it myself or ask to correct it, as for me it is really a shame.But if we don't pay attention to the purity of the language, who will?
The power of punctuation is, undoubtedly, great. Noone can deny that it's a crucial part of both: verbal and writing speech, because how you organize your writing speech directly influences the way you talk, although it tends to happen unconsciously. In my opinion, only a lazy person wouldn't put any punctuation marks, just because others are sure to understand. However, it's unlikely to happen. Evidently, the comma, the full stop are not for nothing and reading a text, even if it doesn't carry any logical strain, still very hard and tiresome, to say nothing of the help the punctuation marks give in order to determine the meaning. We can clearly see from such examples: " Thank God its Friday", how improper punctuation or a lack of it can change the meaning and make the communication and understanding of each other hardly possible. To write, minding the punctuation is like making music, you need to put effort if you want other's understanding. Moreover I consider it quite disrespectful and careless to write a long sentence without putting any marks, it only means you are indifferent to other people. That's why I am probably the punctuation stickler and I always try to mind my punctuation, doesn't matter whether I write or speak.
ОтветитьУдалитьHow can a person deliver the main information in writing that a reader will not only be able to understand the message but appreciate the same feelings and emotions? Punctuation marks are the only ones to help out. I really can’t understand people who neglect punctuation, then how is a reader supposed to acquire the meaning of the sent text? It would be very problematic.
ОтветитьУдалитьPunctuation marks can organize our speech, point out the main message and last but not the least is to express our feelings. With punctuation help we have a lot of opportunities to make our speech colorful, because each mark has its meaning and shade. The power of marks is incredible, you can use the same words but the intonation and meaning will be absolutely different.
I also find it funny that many people do not use the punctuation marks in their sms, BUT there we can see bags and bags of different smiles! Guess, what are they consist of? In Trass’ book I really liked how she managed to figure the question of emoticons out. Let’s be frank we are lazy. The idea of selecting the right words in the right order and put the necessary punctuation marks sounds troublesome, then the means of artful pointing can ease the task! Just add the right emoticon to your sms and everyone will know what self-expressive effect you wanted to address.
That’s why I think I’m the punctuation stickler. To make mistakes is in our nature, nobody is perfect, but I’d rather experience that than go on writing in a bad style.
If asked "How are you" without any question mark, I wouldn't answer. Just hate when people try to "save" their time ignoring punctuation or using shortened words, like "thnx", "bb". Always want to ask them what they do with this huuge amount of time they've saved.
ОтветитьУдалитьIn my honest opinion, if you're an educated person, you'd better posses like one. It's the question of manners, probably. Avoiding the rules won't lead to any good. I do believe in that.
Well, imagine the real conversation, you make pauses, act emotional. Why not preserve the emotions in the text?
And, my favourite one, capital letters. Respect them. If it's an "I", make sure it's capital.
Punctuation helps us to understand the whole meaning of message, text, and letter. It is hard to imagine our world without such useful thing like punctuation.
ОтветитьУдалитьFrom my point of view, it's easy to be aware of all rules of punctuation. And of course it'll make you more knowledgeable in the eyes of others.
Working in the field of catering, I have an opportunity to see people who're trying to ignore the rules of punctuation all the time ;)
Well, the punctuation marks are like the right accessories for you outfit: the right choice will make it look better and complete. So why do we skip using them in our messages? Ok, I don't really mind when a person doesn't put a colon of a semicolon, because sometimes the rules are very hard to understand. But is it really difficult to decorate you writing with exclamation and question marks, to say nothing about commas and full stops? The absence of the punctuation marks makes the text impassive and meaningless.
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