On a Paean to Punctuation

Today, September 24th, is National Punctuation Day.

I, who have never seen a comma I didn’t like, wanted to take a moment to encourage each and every one of you, my readers, to revel in your love of and need for punctuation. Whether it is the curiosity inherent in a question mark, the certainty in an exclamation point, the silliness in the snark, the shock in the interrobang, the pause in the comma, the hard stop in the period, or whatever it is that you get from other marks, punctuation is like the maps and the traffic signals in our language. Without punctuation, we would be lost in a noncontextual tangle of verbiage. Punctuation turns words into meaning and transforms phrases into artistry.

Sally forth and hug a comma today!

Published by Allyn

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

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