'Eats, Shoots & Leaves'
Punctuation, Long Abused, Makes a Comeback
READ AN EXCERPT
Morning Edition, April 21, 2004 · Lynne Truss, writer, journalist and advocate of proper punctuation, has come to rescue us from the misplaced comma. In her book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, Truss shows how an improper punctuation mark can make all the difference. Unearthing examples of bizarre and careless errors through the ages, this narrative history also shares witty teasers and ambiguous phrases, all entirely dependent on the punctuation.
One such example lent the book its title:
A panda walks into a bar. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.
"Why? Why are you behaving in this strange, un-panda-like fashion?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda walks towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
"I'm a panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.
"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."
Already a best-seller in the United Kingdom, Eats, Shoots & Leaves is now available in the United States. NPR's Bob Edwards speaks to Truss about her book and those powerful little commas and apostrophes.
Related NPR Stories
- Language Pet Peeves
- Dec. 6, 2003'English As She Is Spoke'
- Aug. 24, 2000The Finer Points of Punctuation
- Sep. 18, 2002Smiley Punctuation
- March 12, 2004Are We Overusing Adjectives?
- Sep. 23, 2003Spanglish, A New American Language
- April 6, 2004Commentary: Be a Good Grammar Role Model
Comments
Discussions for this story are now closed. Please see the Community FAQ for more information.