national punctuation day

September 24, 2010 3:31 PM

did you know its national punctuation day again
posted by Avenger50 (58 comments total)

.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 3:32 PM on September 24, 2010 [3 favorites]

&
posted by ob at 3:33 PM on September 24, 2010

¿?
posted by hippybear at 3:33 PM on September 24, 2010

‽
posted by enn at 3:35 PM on September 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

?!?';'! National Punctuation Day. ?!?';'! it in its ?!?';'!ing ;--.?!:.
posted by gurple at 3:37 PM on September 24, 2010

At the age of 50 he decided to write a book about himself - A Pickle for the Knowing Ones or Plain Truth in a Homespun Dress. He wrote about himself and complained about politicians, clergy and his wife. The book contained 8,847 words and 33,864 letters, but absolutely no punctuation, and capital letters were sprinkled about at random. At first he handed his book out for free, but it rapidly became popular and ran into eight editions in total.[citation needed] When people complained that it was hard to read, for the second edition he added an extra page - 13 lines of punctuation marks - asking readers to "peper and solt it as they plese".[1]
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:37 PM on September 24, 2010 [3 favorites]

what day
posted by Wolfdog at 3:38 PM on September 24, 2010

where are archy and mehitabel

actually i would rather see no punctuation than it's "misuse"
posted by bad grammar at 3:40 PM on September 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

I, did not know - this?!
posted by notme at 3:43 PM on September 24, 2010

WORKS ON CONTINGENCY
NO MONEY DOWN

Hutz: All right gentleman. I will take your case. But I will require a thousand dollar retainer.
Bart: A thousand dollars. But your ad says "no money down".
Hutz: Oh, they got this all screwed up. [corrects ad with felt-marker]
Bart: So you don't work on a contingency basis?
Hutz: No, money down. Oops, I shouldn't have the Bar Association logo here either. [Hutz eats ad]
posted by filthy light thief at 3:43 PM on September 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

;
posted by heyho at 3:43 PM on September 24, 2010

Well it's 12:45ish here in Berlin so I guess I missed it

(apply as needed: , . , ;)
posted by From Bklyn at 3:44 PM on September 24, 2010

mefite's, i hope i can get some punctuation "tips"!!!
posted by benzenedream at 3:44 PM on September 24, 2010 [3 favorites]

No love for [] apparently. I love you little []
posted by strixus at 3:45 PM on September 24, 2010

Reverse semicolon ⁏

And some more Unicode general punctuation oddities:

‱, ⁕, ⁑, ⁂, ⁚, ⁖, ⁘, ⁙
posted by jedicus at 3:46 PM on September 24, 2010

this. is. awesome!
posted by msconduct at 3:46 PM on September 24, 2010

wow what an "interesting'' article to e-mail to my friend's!
posted by reductiondesign at 3:49 PM on September 24, 2010

I'll leave an open bracket here, just to mess with the OCD's:
(

And as a bonus, also mess with the apostrophe police, and the "ocd is not an adjective" crowd
posted by qvantamon at 3:58 PM on September 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

WELCOME
CANDY CONVENTION
ROOM 1!
posted by prinado at 3:59 PM on September 24, 2010

What, nobody else submitted a haiku?

*sigh*
posted by faineant at 4:00 PM on September 24, 2010

「」 ﹁ ﹂

鬼佬 混賬!!!

～ で、 〽 〜


外人!!!!
posted by lalochezia at 4:09 PM on September 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

kuujjuarapik wrote...

.

dammit hes beaten me to it
posted by Webbster at 4:12 PM on September 24, 2010

.
posted by Fizz at 4:15 PM on September 24, 2010

Ahh, a day to appreciate our favorite symbols. Many of you have thrown in some exciting examples, but let us not forgot the noble dashes— -, –, and —.

Some more… “‘¡Olé!’, I say.”

« French-style Quotes»

„German-style quotes“

inter · punct
posted by !Jim at 4:16 PM on September 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

I see what you did there.
posted by GuyZero at 4:22 PM on September 24, 2010

oh my god how did i forget this all year i wait to sprinkle to turn my texts into spangly fields besprent with punctuation all to and up in the end forgetting wait what was i saying i forgot but ok
posted by flippant at 4:33 PM on September 24, 2010

Ack. German quotes confuse the hell out of me. Why the hell do they open outside? I just started reading a German book (first time), and spent a long time thinking "dude, someone misplaced some quotation mark somewhere, and now the whole book has the quotation marks inverted... doesn't anyone proofread these things?"
posted by qvantamon at 4:33 PM on September 24, 2010

Also that's not a bracket
posted by RustyBrooks at 4:35 PM on September 24, 2010

"One thing? I, like: about, Dear Miss Kinnian: (thats, the way? it goes; in a business, letter (if I ever go! into business?) is that, she: always gives me' a reason" when - I ask. She"s a gen'ius! I cou'd be smart like-her, Punctuation , is? fun!"
posted by sourwookie at 4:45 PM on September 24, 2010 [3 favorites]

I like punctuation in sentences.
posted by jabberjaw at 4:49 PM on September 24, 2010

I consider the hyphen to be as much a part of myself as the letter "I", and am envious of the letters that hug it every day (these also happen to be the letters that I am mostly comprised of, interestingly enough.) Yay hyphens! Let's eat some hard-boiled eggs with a nice, well-done steak. Okay, you guys can have the eggs, I actually already ate the steak. In honor of the hyphen!
posted by SMPA at 4:54 PM on September 24, 2010 [4 favorites]

At the age of 50 he decided to write a book about himself A Pickle for the Knowing Ones or Plain Truth in a Homespun Dress He wrote about himself and complained about politicians clergy and his wife The book contained 8847 words and 33864 letters but absolutely no punctuation and capital letters were sprinkled about at random At first he handed his book out for free but it rapidly became popular and ran into eight editions in total citation needed When people complained that it was hard to read for the second edition he added an extra page 13 lines of punctuation marks asking readers to peper and solt it as they plese 1


-.,.,,,,.,.[],--"".[]

Hi I fixed this for you

!.
posted by sebastienbailard at 5:01 PM on September 24, 2010

BEST. DAY. EVER.
posted by subgear at 5:02 PM on September 24, 2010

subgear international caps lock day is october 22 and june 28

,!:(
posted by sebastienbailard at 5:06 PM on September 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

My own way of celebrating this day is to go on a punctuation fast I go without and donate the unused marks to others who are less fortunate so that they may punctuate if only for a day Please enjoy this humble offering ................................. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, """""""""""""""""""""""" ::::::::::::::::::: ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ??????????????? ((((((((( )))))))))))) ///////
posted by subgear at 5:14 PM on September 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

ǂKxʼauǁʼein
posted by Casimir at 5:15 PM on September 24, 2010

A colon, and period, and a tiny pianist walk into a bar...
posted by i_have_a_computer at 5:17 PM on September 24, 2010

what a coinsidence im havin my period

jk i dont have peroids im a boy
posted by Greg Nog at 5:19 PM on September 24, 2010 [7 favorites]

I Wøüld lîké to ådd a sõupçon óf Dìãçrîtïcs
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:52 PM on September 24, 2010 [4 favorites]

Punk! Chu ate my french fries, mang!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:01 PM on September 24, 2010

❅ ➡ ☃



☠
posted by delmoi at 6:24 PM on September 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

¿Banned in Arizona?
posted by BrotherCaine at 6:37 PM on September 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

I celebrated with an interrabang
posted by Mael Oui at 6:43 PM on September 24, 2010

semicolons rule;
posted by scody at 6:56 PM on September 24, 2010

Grawlix! A celebration of punctuation, you $#@*!
posted by SPrintF at 6:59 PM on September 24, 2010

what.
posted by brundlefly at 7:09 PM on September 24, 2010

Aaaaaaaagh. I'm done copy-editing for the week!
posted by limeonaire at 7:17 PM on September 24, 2010

did you know its national punctuation day again


Yeah? When's the national capitalization day?
posted by c13 at 8:27 PM on September 24, 2010

‽
posted by BrotherCaine at 8:39 PM on September 24, 2010

Advice: don't simultaneously work for one publication that follows the AP style guide and for another that follows the Chicago Manual, because it's a surefire way to forget all you know and go crazy.

(For example, according to the Chicago Manual, I was correct in leaving the "don't" that follows the colon lower-case. According to the AP, I should have capitalized it. It's a world of pain.)
posted by Zerowensboring at 9:18 PM on September 24, 2010

here i got you a bouquet of early blooming parenthesis (((())))
they are left over from the funeral of salinger but i am sure he will not miss them
posted by thusspakeparanoia at 9:33 PM on September 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

Jeff's rules are kind of random. OWL is more systematic. Semicolons have rules. Commas, not so much. Them's my two bit's. No thanks necessary for the free grocer's apostrophe. I love that phrase "grocer's apostrophe"! Yes, I like to put punctuation outside the quotes. Try and stop me.

Free spudnut's tomorrow!
posted by kozad at 10:49 PM on September 24, 2010

May I, in a fit of overzealous punctficating invite fellow Mefites to kindly refrain from the use of the following words for a day: utilize and endeavor.

That's it, a simple little request, to lighten my load and ease my eyes and ears. Thank you.

And, finally, around 30 years ago, while living in Madison, Wisconsin, I'd called a hotel in London (don't remember the name) and made a reservation for a room, sixty days out. They said they'd send a confirmation, via the post (yes, this is the way it was done back then).

And, sure enough, they did; and addressed it to me at Madison, Wiscowsin. I've always wondered if this was an honest mistake or they were pulling my teat.
posted by lometogo at 11:00 PM on September 24, 2010

May I, in a fit of overzealous punctficating invite fellow Mefites to kindly refrain from the use of the following words for a day: utilize and endeavor.

Very very good idea. (I like to shoe-horn in "very" anywhere it seems to be a very good fit.)
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:21 PM on September 24, 2010

    ___
   {0 0}
    |^|
     U
  ( o o )
  |(   )|  
  |  w  |
    /#\
   / # \
  - ##  -

Punctuation monkey.
posted by jefbla at 11:36 PM on September 24, 2010

I'm, told, I, use, too, many, commas; So, I, am, trying, to, get, them, out, of, my, system;
posted by Skygazer at 11:11 AM on September 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

Skygazer: careful: I tried to pass them out my colon: one got stuck;
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:40 PM on September 25, 2010 [2 favorites]

Skygazer: careful: I tried to pass them out my colon: one got stuck;


I've heard of shitting in a thread, but this is pretty clever.
posted by Skygazer at 2:14 PM on September 25, 2010