Today, friends, is a big day. Many of you won't know this, and most of you won't care; I will share my excitement nonetheless.
It's a big day for those of us who deem ourselves "grammar geeks." Celebrate with me, if you will, the 7th Annual Punctuation Day®. The Official National Punctuation Day website says today is "A celebration of the lowly comma, correctly used quotation marks, and other proper uses of periods, semicolons, and the ever-mysterious ellipsis."
Can I get an Amen?
I don't make my living writing, thank God! And I don't make my living editing. But I do appreciate a finely written piece, properly punctuated and spelled correctly. I have no tolerance for newspaper articles, web news, blog posts, and user comments that are just grammatically wrong. How can these people publish this with their names attached?
I'd like to think I don't make punctuation mistakes, ever. I know, though, that I'm totally guilty of misusing and overusing the ellipsis. Maybe I'll make that my plan for next year: to learn to use the ellipsis correctly.
Or maybe, I'll just keep doing what I've been doing all along, standing in judgement (privately of course) of the horrid writing I see so often.
I'm seriously hoping there is a "National Your/You're Day," followed quickly by a "National I/Me/Myself Day." That would SO rock!
Do all of us grammar geeks a favor if you will - if just for this one day - and try to use those little punctuation marks correctly. We'll work on spelling and proper pronoun usage when the time comes.
Love,
Lady Steele
English minor and grammar snob (EMAG)
4 comments:
Obviously it's genetic. My own personal pet peeve is the growing use of the non-words "funner" and "funnest". When my 2 youngest children were in high school, I started sending all of the school notices back to the principal with the punctuation, spelling and grammar corrected. I think that the school should be held to the highest level of accountability in the day to day use of proper grammar. Their record was abysmal. I'm sure they celebrated Erin's graduation as much as I did.
I have been called a Grammar Nazi. I love red pens.
I use the ellipsis... a lot.
I am ever-vigilant about correct spelling.
I <3 you for telling me about Official National Punctuation Day. I'm adding it to my calendar. You get me. :oP
By now you no doubt know that "judgment" has no "e" in the middle. I love the ellipse, too!
It's always hard to have an aunt who was an English teacher....I will own the "judgment" error. I said I'm a punctuation freak, not a spelling freak.
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