But first, a disgruntled and impatient reader sent me an e-mail earlier this morning alerting me that today is National Punctuation Day. This reader had some choice uses for punctuation marks, which I won't repeat here for the sake of decency. But (and I'm sure this won't be good for keeping his ego at a reasonable level) he has influenced the Report for the day. I am, after all, a Technical Editor by trade. My missing Punctuation Day would be like an elf not celebrating Christmas.
To celebrate this glorious grammarian day, here are some useful and comical pointers on punctuation use. First up, some classics from The Oatmeal on "How To Use an Apostrophe" and "How To Use a Semicolon." The grammar lessons of middle school would have been so much more interesting with these examples. These, of course, are two mysterious pieces of punctuation that are often the subject of question, self-doubt, and second guessing. Another piece of punctuation, used in the last sentence, is a subject of much debate: The Oxford Comma (also known as the serial comma).
The Oxford Comma, most famous for its title role in a Vampire Weekend song, is a contentious piece of punctuation. In fact, the first question of my interview for my current position asked how I felt about the Oxford Comma. If it is unclear by my consistent use of it in the Report, I'm for it, just as the sandwich club is for frilly toothpicks. Others are opposed. The New York Times, for instance, doesn't use them. Some argue that maintaining use of the Oxford Comma is simply being a slave to historic grammatical convention, just like the type-writer imposed two spaces after a period that is not relevant in a computer-font world. This, as NPR's blogger Linda Holmes observes, is not the case. As you can see from this comic, the Oxford Comma is fundamentally important in reducing ambiguity. Please embrace it. Or respond with a compelling argument for the opposition.
Along with celebrating the Oxford Comma and other pieces of punctuation, there are numerous options for birthday celebrations of note. Readers could...
- Have a Coke and a Smile for Mean Joe Greene;
- Play the music and light the lights for Jim Henson; or
- Believe in the green light for F. Scott Fitzgerald.
