I think it quite appropriate here to send out an alert to all unassuming readers: "word snob alert!" as Annie so deftly warned in a comment a few posts back (and Annie, you know you're just as much of a word snob as I). While this isn't about any particular word, it is in the same vein, since it's about what punctuates those words. So, if the scintillating dramas of semicolons doesn't excite you, move on. Read elsewhere. This is no place for you today.
I came across a wonderful article in the New York Times today entitled "Celebrating a Semicolon in a Most Unlikely Location." I'm amazed the writer could fit the mention of a serial killer, the No Child Left Behind act, a New York Times bestseller, and Kurt Vonnegut all in an article on semicolons. That's quite a feat, but I digress.
I am quite happy to see people being recognized for good punctuation, and I think it should be done more frequently. Perhaps we ought to have an annual award that recognizes one person's quest to use the semicolon in a felicitous manner, and maybe we can give extra points or the Miss Congeniality award to the person who uses it in the most amusing manner. Imagine where some of the Bulwer-Lytton contest entries could go with the correct usage of a semicolon!
In fact, in celebration of this semi-colon recognition and general literary amusement, perhaps we ought to all enter the Bulwer-Lytton writing contest this year (the official deadline is April 15), and make sure you include plenty of well-used semicolons!
2 comments:
Count me in on all this snobbery. I also picked right up on this article when I spotted that catchy title in the good ol' NYT. I was highly entertained--right down to the retraction they printed correcting some punctuation from the article.
That last Bulwer-Lytton winner is unbelievably awesome.
Keep looking for updates...
Post a Comment