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Today is National Punctuation Day?!
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by Jon Azpiri | September 24, 2008 at 08:59 am
831 views | 18 Recommendations | 16 comments
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Sure, we all had fun with International Talk Like a Pirate Day, but today is a day that's a little more important to the future of human communication. September 24 is National Punctuation Day, a day to give a little extra thought to: colons, commas, exclamation points, quotation marks, and the ever-beguiling semi-colon.
In an era of twitters and text messages, punctuation appears to be languishing. All the more reason to take a moment to brush up on your punctuation and finally learn the difference between a dash and a hyphen. You might even figure how to properly use an ellipsis...
Those interested in a quick punctuation lesson might want to leaf through the pages of Strunk & White's classic The Elements of Style or Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. You can also visit the National Punctuation Day website or this handy online guide by Rutgers associate professor Jack Lynch.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (16)
at 09:08 on September 24th, 2008
Good work, Jon. I "really" like this story.
For some giggles check out The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks, people send in photos of signs from all over the world which are quite funny.
at 09:33 on September 24th, 2008
I like the story as well. American kids only know computer punctuation now a days.
at 11:01 on September 24th, 2008
elpy has contributed a photo to this story.
at 10:59 on September 24th, 2008
This is a great story. I can always use more help when it comes to punctuation.
at 11:07 on September 24th, 2008
The most overused punctuation must surely be the exclamation mark - particularly in the wonderful world of flickr (!)
at 11:12 on September 24th, 2008
Where would Spiderman and other Superheroes be without the exclamation mark!!!!
at 11:38 on September 24th, 2008
I like this; it's good stuff.
at 11:41 on September 24th, 2008
Personally I always had a soft spot for the misunderstood semicolon.
Check out the punctuation rap.
at 12:26 on September 24th, 2008
I agree, this is an important topic. Punctuation is an essential component of good writing. As the title of Lynne Truss's book shows, the presence or absence of a comma can completely change the meaning of a sentence.
I fear that basic grammar, including punctuation, is not well taught these days. So that there are kids growing up on MSN and SMS text messages who think that the original function of punctuation characters was to create smileys! ;-)
at 12:39 on September 24th, 2008
I've always like Vonnegut's "appreciation" of the semicolon -
"...do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites, standing for absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college."
at 12:45 on September 24th, 2008
Jon Azpiri, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 14:28 on September 24th, 2008
Jon Azpiri, this. Is? So! Cool...
at 23:10 on September 24th, 2008
Along with a few other Flickr members, I started looking for the alphabet. While doing so I spotted the question mark in the photograph. (The dot at the bottom is out of shot on this cropped copy). I'm looking for punctuation marks too. So far, I haven't bumped onto anyone.
swerv69 has contributed a photo to this story.
at 01:56 on September 29th, 2008
Jon Azpiri, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 01:10 on September 30th, 2008
Jon Azpiri, I like this story. It's good stuff.
I'm real, happy: you! told, us about. that Jon
at 07:24 on October 8th, 2008
I think I was too late publishing this photo but I'm actually at sea right now. But thanks for the request! Good story, too!
rodia has contributed a photo to this story.