I don’t suppose you can love words without loving punctuation marks. Like the perfect accessory, they just make words better. Punctuation marks are one reason why I love to blog and read blogs. Finally! Punctuation marks are being used (albeit incorrectly 75% of the time) for what they should be…communicating.
I always hated abiding by punctuation rules in school. I felt like the strict rules inhibited communication and didn’t really reflect how people talk. I love the reckless way punctuation marks are used on the web to aid in effectively communicating tone and ideas. They reflect real speech, real communication. If you only knew the restraint I was using not to have an ellipses between every other word…
Now, I’m not suggesting we throw out our grammar handbooks because I’m sure that would like end the world or something and send English teachers running in horror. I’m just saying that when I read a blog that has a run-on sentence but perfectly conveys what the writer is trying to say, I feel all is right with the world.
And, I’m sure Aristophanes of Byzantium who is credited with inventing punctuation in 200 BCE would agree with me. I can’t imagine he created punctuation just so students around the world could get red marks on their papers.
