 [Larger view] | Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
| ||||||||||||
| |
Average user rating:  | |
 Stickler's Unite! | |
| Lynne Truss has written a marvelously entertaining book in "Eats, Shoots & Leaves-The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation." She tells us that punctuation marks are the traffic signals of language. Lynne Truss believes that she was born with a seventh-sense. She is a "stickler" for proper punctuation. Most of us are happily equipped to live in a world of plummeting punctutation standards. We would be the ones to whisper to ourselves, "Oh, get a life!" Lynne Truss believes it is her right, and,indeed, her duty to inform one when their punctution is not correct. She cannot live in a world of constant shock. She lives a tough life, and at times cannot bear to get up in the mornings. Everywhere there are signs of indifference and ignorance. At every point Lynne Truss gives us examples of her everyday shock, and how she tries to right it. Lynne Truss started out as a literary editor. She is the author of three novels and many radio comedy dramas. She spent six years as the television critic of the "The Times" (London) followed by four years as the sports columnist. She now reviews books for "The Sunday Times" (London), and is heard regularly on Lynne Truss relates how she came to title her book. A panda walks into a cafe. he orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air. "Why" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward 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. I am a little afraid to continue the review, in fear that I may unintentionally "shock" the author. Lynne Truss has a reverence for the apostrophe. Several chapters of this small, highly charged, book are dedicated to the apostrophe. And, later on, the comma makes its appearance in a chapter titled, "That'll Do,Comma." The comma has seventeen rules for its use. Didn't know that, did you? In the chapter, Airs and Graces, she reviews the colon and the semi colon, and how they have come to be looked at as pretentious punctuation. The author believes that one of the most profound thigns ever said about punctuation came from the Oxford University Press. "If you take hypens seriously, you will surely go mad." People have argued for its aboliton for many years. In the fianl chapter, Lynne Truss discusses the Internet, God Help Us! Will the end of the book be in sight? Will emoticons change punctuation forever? Read this book, so highly recommended and find out! Prisrob | |
| Hope for those of us who punctuate properly!! | |
| For a long time, I hid my sickness. I only talked about it to close friends, people who wouldn't judge me. I thought I was the only person who cringed each time I saw "your" when it should have been "you're" or wanted to rewrite entire Amazon.com reviews because of atrocious spelling and/or punctuation. Now I know that I'm not alone; in fact, I'm in good company. This book does the unthinkable. It takes both a humorous and an educational look at the often overlooked (and undertaught) world of punctuation. I actually found myself laughing out loud at parts of this book. That could be because I'm an English teacher, but I like to think it's because Lynne Truss is a funny lady and this is one funny book. The next time I'm about to pull my hair out while teaching apostrophes to eighth-graders, I'll pull out this book and have a good laugh. Lord knows I'll need it. | |
 An Editor's Witty New Friend | |
| I like Lynne Truss. I'd love to have a long lunch with her. Not because she's a grammar know-it-all but because she's intelligent and funny at the same time. This is apparent in her book "Eats, Shoots and Leaves." As an editor, I've shared many of the same emotions as Truss concerning dropped commas, unnecessary apostrophes and mangled colons. She's a lady after my own heart. I gleaned a lot of useful history behind the rules and laughed heartily while doing it. Who knew there was so much to the apostrophe? I'm also thankful that Truss is mindful of different styles (AP being the one I adhere to) and the ways of we wacky Americans. She knows that grammar itself continues to change over the centuries. Truss is a beacon of hope for those who despair that any semblance of structure is fast evaporating from all written discourse. Just read the message boards on any Web site (full of "i luv ths book!" and the like) and you'll understand what I mean. |
