“Yes, you can see the bullet points here, here and here, sir; there are multiple back-slashes, of course. And that’s a forward slash. I would have to call this a frenzied attack. Did anyone hear the interrobang?”
“Oh yes. Woman next door was temporarily deafened by it. What’s this?”
“Ah. You don’t see many of these any more. It’s an emoticon. Hold your head this way and it appears to be winking.”
“Good God! You mean – ?”
“That’s the mouth.”
“You mean – ?”
“That’s the nose.”
“Good grief Then it’s – ?”
“Oh yes, sir. There’s no doubt about it, sir. The Punctuation Murderer has struck again.”
Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
A Week with Proofreading
Drew you in with my ever-so-exciting headline, didn’t I? (Cough.) Not so much.
The Makarios household is submerged at present in a sea of proofreading (hyphenation, overhangs, regional spelling variations, punctuation…) and having tried in vain to turn my mind to writing about something more interesting for you all, I decided that this week we’d have a look at the interesting side of all things proofreadery.
So, to kick things off: which (or possibly what) punctuation mark are you? Here are three sites willing to weigh in with an opinion:
Share your results in the comments! I got comma, comma & em dash. I miss being a semicolon 🙁
Gargoyle Chip Report XI
This week, I am happy to report, I have made a lot of progress. Or at least, it felt like a lot at the time, but doesn’t necessarily look like a lot when considered as part of the whole. Big projects are like that.
Rose quilt: several afternoons and evenings spent on stitching motif to background (in the smoother intervals of the proofreading process)
Curtains: none whatsoever
How are the gargoyles looking in your life? Keep chipping away – you’ll get there in time!