Thursday, September 17, 2009

Friday Funny & Punctuation

Maybe you are asking yourself,

How can punctuation be the subject of our Friday Funny?

Excellent question.


First of all, I have to confess that I suck rocks when it comes to punctuation. I try, honestly I do. I've read Strunk and White's. I have a BA in Communications (lots of writing in those classes).

Still suck.

In fact, my super-cool-agent-dude recently sent me my manuscript back with the note somewhere along the lines of, "I took the time to copy edit this for you. Please work off this copy from now on."


Thanks, Steven! And what is the proof of his coolness? He didn't say things like learn how to use an apostrophe, why don't you? or Man, why'd I sign a writer with such lousy skills? Nope. He could have said either of those, but he didn't. And that's a pretty cool thing.




Anyway - on with the funny!!

Punctuation Parable -- why it matters.

version #1:

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

version #2


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

So, I have recommitted to being better at punctuation. Because, apparently, it does matter.

Have a great weekend all!

22 comments:

Tere Kirkland said...

LOL! love this example! Punctuation matters, people. Enjoy your weekend.

Jill Kemerer said...

Funny how word and comma placement can change the entire meaning! How funny!

MeganRebekah said...

I love things like this! It also makes me wonder how much time they spent writing something so clever.

Janna Leadbetter said...

Ha! That.was.awesome.

Thanks for sharing, Tess, and have a great weekend.

Elana Johnson said...

Those examples are so true. Punctuation is hard. No worries, Tess!

Michelle said...

Love it! I think punctuation, like grammar, is genetic. Some people instinctively know it, and others can study it forever and never quite get there. This is why copy editors have jobs.

I am fortunate to have the punctuation gene. The math gene, not so much.

Wendy Paine Miller said...

Something I need to work on. I'm in love with the words, but not always what goes around them.
~ Wendy

lisa and laura said...

Hilarious! Guess I should start brushing up on my grammar skills too. Semi-colons give me ulcers.

Robyn Campbell said...

Tess, I suck at punctuation too. Which is why I'm soooo thankful for Beth. We're a match made in writing heaven, for me at least! :)

She is trying to teach me, but I think she just does a *shake of her head* at my punctuation skills. I'll do better. I hope! Love your agent. :)

Robyn Campbell said...

Tess, my word verification was cone. Get it? Shapes. As in punctuation shapes. Okay, I'm leaving. :)

Davin Malasarn said...

I used to be a writing tutor at UC Davis for a couple of years while I was getting my degree. First of all, to get the job, we had to take a three hour writing test on grammar and punctuation. Then, after we got the job, we had three hours of grammar and punctuation classes a week for TWO YEARS! I learned so much about that technical stuff, and honestly, I loved it. There were two teachers, and they would actually get into debates about how to punctuate a sentence. That was when I realized that it was all really quite flexible. Just like any other rule, I now use punctuation to shape a sentence, and I break standard rules as I see it. It's a lot less pressure.

Davin Malasarn said...

Oops. I meant, as I see "fit", not as I see "it." Spelling, is NOT one of my strengths! LOL.

Anonymous said...

This is hilarious and PERFECT. I want to show everyone this!!!

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

Too. Darn. Hilarious.

kah said...

Love it. Reminds me of that punctuation song I learned in elementary school. Happy Friday!

Unknown said...

TOOOOOO funny. And timely. I have punctuation problems myself. Like, I don't use them, apparently...

Tess said...

Ah, at last! My internet was down all day yesterday, so I actually posted this (luckily it was pre written) from a church's parking lot. Yep, I stole their wireless signal - but only for two minutes. And, it was my church. I didn't stay and blog surf - but I'm back and excited to do a little trolling today.

Thanks for the comments - happy weekend!

MG Higgins said...

Excellent! :)

Janna Leadbetter said...

Tess, coming back to say I just used the Amazon gift cert. I'd been waiting for just the right thing - and ordered something I wanted called Water for Elephants. It was .86 + 3.99 shipping. How perfect is that?!

Thank you again. :)

Stephanie Faris said...

Love these examples! Yes...just when we think we know everything, someone else can knock us down a peg or two!

Dave said...

Fun stuff!

Katie said...

Very funny. I saw a similar example:

"Let's eat Grandma!
Let's eat, Grandma!
Punctuation saves lives."

:)