Thursday, July 08, 2004
Turning over a new leaf.
I've just finished reading Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves and I have to admit that I've taken what I've read to heart. It really is a fascinating read on the subject of punctuation and its misuse. She offers examples of proper and improper punctuation while offering humor and levity. She ends the book by discussing the way the Internet, email and text messaging are affecting language and grammar. The Internet is here to stay (and will only get more important as technology grows) but we shouldn't let Netspeak destroy our language. Her point is that future generations will be affected by the way language changes due to the Internet's influence. Her book describes how the printed word has led to the formation of punctuation and argues that the Internet (and email and text messaging) is the next generation of the printed word. If we don't take heed, shortcuts in punctuation and grammar will become the norm (i.e. "txt msgs" and emails are already rife with word alterations). And you don't even want to know what the author thinks of the emoticon!
I've always felt that I was pretty good at punctuation and grammar. I also always felt that my knack for not using capitalization was inventive. Perhaps it can be inventive if I used it sparingly and not exclusively. I'm going to try and make a concerted effort to pay attention to the words I publish on the Internet. Geeze, I keep a blog for anyone to read; do I really want them to think that I don't know how to capitalize words and sentences?
To clarify: I will keep the blog layout the way it is. The title at the top and the headings on the right are in all lower-case. I think, stylistically, that it works. I will do my best to heed the rules of grammar (and punctuation and capitalization) in the entries that I post. Will this be the norm for me in the future? Of that I can't be certain. But if a short book on punctuation can inspire me to be a better writer (to hone my craft, as it were) then it can't really be a bad thing, can it?
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Incidentally, Erik and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie Dodgeball. It was riddled with coarse jokes and base humor but it turned out to be funny as hell. So while the written word can inspire me to become a better thinker/writer, it is safe to say that pointless visual entertainment hasn't lost its appeal -- not in the least.
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I've always felt that I was pretty good at punctuation and grammar. I also always felt that my knack for not using capitalization was inventive. Perhaps it can be inventive if I used it sparingly and not exclusively. I'm going to try and make a concerted effort to pay attention to the words I publish on the Internet. Geeze, I keep a blog for anyone to read; do I really want them to think that I don't know how to capitalize words and sentences?
To clarify: I will keep the blog layout the way it is. The title at the top and the headings on the right are in all lower-case. I think, stylistically, that it works. I will do my best to heed the rules of grammar (and punctuation and capitalization) in the entries that I post. Will this be the norm for me in the future? Of that I can't be certain. But if a short book on punctuation can inspire me to be a better writer (to hone my craft, as it were) then it can't really be a bad thing, can it?
---
Incidentally, Erik and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie Dodgeball. It was riddled with coarse jokes and base humor but it turned out to be funny as hell. So while the written word can inspire me to become a better thinker/writer, it is safe to say that pointless visual entertainment hasn't lost its appeal -- not in the least.
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