Fun with Punctuation

Here’s a good post: Punctuation Changes Meaning.

This topic is always fun, with examples such as

“Most of the time, travelers worry about their luggage.”

“Most of the time travelers worry about their luggage.”

to illustrate the importance of punctuation. I didn’t come up with the time traveler example, which is too bad, because whoever did deserves credit for the most fun comma usage example I’ve ever seen. But the linked post goes one better and provides a set of two complete paragraphs with the same words but totally opposite meaning because of punctuation. This is just entertaining, so here:

Dear John,
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart. I can be forever happy–will you let me be yours?
Jane

and now here:

Dear John,
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior! You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn! For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we’re apart, I can be happy. Will you let me be?
Jane

I just think that’s wonderful. I’d enjoy using that in a class if I were an English teacher. The first time I mentioned punctuation, up this would go on the board or screen or whatever people are using these days. Then perhaps I might provide a paragraph that has zero punctuation and suggest trying to punctuate it. I see that when I search for “paragraphs without punctuation,” the examples given are pretty boring. If you were going to do this kind of exercise with students, wouldn’t you like to pick a neat paragraph? Fortunately, here’s a blog post that showcases a small number of great paragraphs, including this one, although of course the original version is punctuated, whereas I’m taking the punctuation out to see how it looks:

He was most fifty and he looked it his hair was long and tangled and greasy and hung down and you could see his eyes shining through like he was behind vines it was all black no gray so was his long mixed up whiskers there warnt no color in his face where his face showed it was white not like another mans white but a white to make a body sick a white to make a body’s flesh crawl a tree toad white a fish belly white as for his clothes just rags, that was all he had one ankle resting on tother knee; the boot on that foot was busted and two of his toes stuck through and he worked them now and then His hat was laying on the floor an old black slouch with the top caved in like a lid.

Anybody recognize that? That’s from Huckleberry Finn. I like it because it needs got more than just periods and the occasional comma, but more than that, because it’s lively and vivid.

It would be neat to find or create a paragraph where you could completely change the meaning via the punctuation, but that’s a lot harder. I took a (brief, casual) stab at it, and couldn’t come up with anything nearly as great as that Dear John letter.

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