Jojo's Reviews > Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

Interesting: A linguist with marginal language skills...

I am probably the biggest stickler for punctuation you know. Perhaps one day I will be able to convince you that punctuation abuse is not merely an epidemic, but a pandemic in America - and if we don't stop it, we may as well all kill ourselves right now, with knives and vegetable peelers and mercerized rope and antifreeze and HIV. Oops, maybe there should be another comma in there. Besides, why are you so confident about the nonexistence of Killer Pandas?

Hey LG, at least you didn't call me a "linguist with marginal language skills" like my good buddy Bill. Interesting you should mention Killer Pandas -- I read that a man in China was recently mauled by a Panda. I hope it wasn't my review that caused him to think it was okay to climb into the panda enclosure.

A humorless linguist with her panties in a wad is she.

Your right Emma - I can never hope to be as fun or humorous as a pedantic punctuation princess.

My right?

Oh Emma, did you have to take the bait and prove my point?

Jojo, you forgot to put a comma between "Oh" and "Emma", failing to properly offset the vocative! What were you thinking?

Sorry. Couldn't resist. :)

Kinsey! Thank you for your good natured criticism, though I must say, it was the most painful criticism of all, because I truly love the vocative, and should have gotten it right.

Thank you all, for the laughs. :0)

Ad hominem attacks don't validate your point. I agree and disagree. I struggle with punctuation and therefor found a number of pitfalls i wasn't previously aware.
I think the approach to the book is more important than what knowledge you may gain from it.

I agree with you completely, Jojo. Grammar simply describes the written version of the language we all speak. That written version is a fossilised version of the spoken one. Refusing to accept changes in the language is just sticking to that fossil. Grammar is simply a tool, useful to ensure we are making our written language clear, but not something to prove your intellectual worth by. (Now, I hope no one quotes the stupid rule about not ending a sentence with a preposition. That is not a rule of English, but of Latin or Greek.)

you are as bad with spelling as with punctuation. And you pretend to be a linguist. Meaning you speak English but do not write it properly, and what other languages, please? probably none decently, or a few words of Spanish, that's it.

Anne, I assume you're replying to Jojo's review. What exactly did she misspell? "Skillz" and "gotta" were used ironically in the same sentence. Did you mean "hah"? Seriously? And people with bad spelling invariably misspell "grammar." She didn't.

Linguists only study spoken language, not grammar and punctuation, so it's completely plausible for someone to be a linguist and struggle in those areas. Also, it's a misconception that all linguists speak several languages. Some do, and some don't. But I don't see how you could determine what languages she knows or doesn't know solely from her brief review.

your right Emma??? for you are right...
ok, it could be your right, like "you disagree, that is your right", but then jojo's post does not make any sense. Read what Emma wrote and the sarcastic answer jojo made. It was meant to be "you are right...". The most usual mistake from people who do not understand grammatical rules. And that's exactly why this book is precious, because it tells you if you do not spell properly, if you do not punctuate properly, you say something totally different from what you meant. And the book is funny,and enjoyable.
About linguists, it may mean someone who is polyglot, or a specialist in linguistics. And linguistics are not limited to the study of speech patterns, though of course, the study of spoken language is primordial because speech is universal, while some cultures did not know written language. But the study of written language matters too, and how can you be a linguist if you don't understand the syntax of a language?

Spoken language has syntax.

Philologists are the ones who deal mainly with writing (although Philology doesn't seem to be a well-known field in the US for some reason).

spoken language has syntax, but the "your right" shows that jojo does not understand it. A pronoun and a noun for a complete sentence - there is a problem somewhere. Or ... theirs a problem :). and why not some ware? If you do not understand the logic of a phrase, how do you know what people understand from what you intend to mean? And being a linguist should mean being able to notice the different levels of speech, from "I dunno, ain't happy", to something like " I am not sure, but I am not feeling fulfilled". To recognize some vernacular, you must know the other possible patterns of speech.
And if philology means the study of historical sources and evolution of a language, it is much more restrictive, as it focuses on changes through time.
Well, the word has different meanings in US English and British English, but anyway, a big part of philology is the history of a language.
Oh, well, let us just say that grammar does matter to me and that it enables you to be better understood or more easily. Of course, the complexity of the message you want to convey changes your need for structure. Basic human needs (food, warmth, shelter, etc) can easily be communicated with single words. If you are interested in linguistics, for instance, or in anything more complicated than those basic needs, you will need much more expansive vocabulary and grammar to make people understand what you mean.

Bad punctuation is often a real problem when trying to convey information to a reader who does not yet understand the information the writer is intending to convey. Yes, there are situations where it where it is merely irritating to readers who are sticklers for punctuation, but there are situations where it is important to get it right.

The reason I started to read this book was that I'd heard it talked up as hilarious, and I've always enjoyed things like Richard Lederer's "Anguished English" and thought this would be more of the same.
I didn't get very far before I had to stop. The humor was almost nonexistent and what I saw of it was flat and stale.

@Anne Martin,I can't believe I have to say this,but Jojo was actually being sarcastic. She deliberately used "your right."

Anne wrote: "spoken language has syntax, but the "your right" shows that jojo does not understand it. A pronoun and a noun for a complete sentence - there is a problem somewhere. Or ... theirs a problem :). and..."
People who do understand it sometimes do start misspelling words by substituting homonyms when they get older, especially in quick writings such as comments in forums like this. Brains age.

Ironic that a review entirely dedicated to highlighting the snobbery of punctuation pedants would come across as incredibly snobbish. Seems like grammar nazis don't have the monopoly on smugness...

Wow ! Comments from “Linguist with her panties in a wad”, to the readers opinion “The Humor was almost nonexistent, flat & stale”...leaves one wondering....What kind of people are actually reading this book ? Simply put, I read this book & found it quite enjoyable, funny & intelligent. Looking back I can’t remember so many negative 👎🏿 & hostile people commenting on such a lovely book. I should stop there but I am compelled to say, “ Have you even read this book ? Do as my Mother used to teach my 3 brothers, 2 sisters, & myself, “ If you don’t have something good to say, than don’t say Anything ! Or occasionally “Don’t say “NOTHING”...and she was the smartest, most decent, giving person I’d ever had the pleasure of knowing ! I am a very insignificant, under~educated women who raised 4 college graduates, all who have made it to the upper level of their careers & did so prior to the age of 40! The knowledge I grew up with, as a child who was taught that gramma, mathematics, reading skills, all education, & goodness toward our fellow man was more than an education, it was a way of life & all we knew. My Mother had an 11th grade education, my Father was Intelligent, honored his 5 years as a “Chief Petty Officer” in the U. S.Navy in the Korean War, sadly had a 5th or 6th grade education, but was as smart, well read, & knowledgeable as any man I’ve ever met. The 6 of us grew up very smart, very determined to be an inspiration to all. I am so disappointed in the negatively & sad comments from those who proposed to have read this book, all I have to say is, how we’re you raised, we’re you not raised with intelligence & wit ? Sad, so many sad folks looking for a way to be nasty & put everything & everybody down.