Editor's Corner

Yesterday I received an e-mail asking me to point out examples where misused punctuation (or lack of punctuation) could result in embarrassment, misunderstanding, or lost business. There are plenty of opportunities for embarrassment and misunderstandings, and as this articles demonstrates, missing punctuation can have big results: Story of the Million-Dollar Comma

Luckily, the results aren’t usually so drastic. Here are some phrases and photos from all over the Internet that I would file under “The Importance of Punctuation.”

• From a t-shirt…

Commas save lives:

Let’s eat grandpa.

Let’s eat, grandpa.

• Missing punctuation turns the NMB Police into the bad guys:

• Say NO to drugs from the NMB Police D.A.R.E Officers.

• An extra comma turns a vegetarian salad into a meaty nightmare:

• “Goat cheese salad ingredients: lettuce, tomato, goat, cheese”

• KC – Here are two good examples of why I am a die-hard serial comma fan, though without the second comma these are definitely more amusing:

• “I’d like to thank my parents, Jesus and Oprah Winfrey.”
• “A notorious gambler, Charlie Sheen owed money to his ex-wives, Billy Bob Thornton and Hugh Grant.”

And now for more punctuation gone bad (my favorite, a repeat, is at the end of the list). Happy Friday!

Kara Church
Senior Technical Editor