OT: Spelling/punctuation/grammar (was Re: OT: Sci-fi (was...))

[Bob Rasmussen]

On Mon, 31 Jul 2006, Kenneth Brody wrote:

> Please punctuate the following:
>
>     John where Nancy had had had had had had had had had had had a
>     better effect.

John, where Nancy had had "had", had had, "had had". "Had had" had had a
better effect.

Every Christmas I'm reminded of the fact that early Hebrew had no
punctuation as we think of it, and that that can lead to problems.
According to a very well educated Sunday school teacher, there is the
following example.

When John the Baptist appears, he is tied to the ancient prophecy usually
read as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of
the Lord'". However, the original prophecy, by its context, should be
punctuated "the voice of one crying, 'In the wilderness, prepare the way
of the Lord'".

Finally, note that I've made (at least) one kind of punctuation error
above. Strictly, the ending period should go inside the quotes. This has
never made sense to me, especially after programming for so many years
where the sequence of parentheses and quotes is so critical. I get very
few complaints on it, however.

I come from a family of word lovers. Some of us get into challenging each
other on word usage. Outsiders fail to understand. A former brother-in-law
referred to us as the grammar police. But it's done as a mostly fun game
of one-upsmanship.

I have to constantly curb my inclination to correct others. The
never-ending flood of errors in emails is building up my visual callouses.
And most people don't like to play the game. So I'll try to behave.

But those apostrophes!

Regards,
....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.

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