Baltic Tour
15 years ago
Monday, March 27, 2006
Of Commas, and Dots...
Why do we really need punctuation marks to convey our message? Most of time I am more comfortable writing without any of those commas and fullstops.. but more generous with my dots which I think is more cool than just one dot for a fullstop.. Why does the language have to be so complicated so that we lose the meaning if the commas and dots dont fall in the right places? Why do we need them at all?? For instance I ve pretty much managed so far without the dots and commas but then again I have not written anything so complicated that it will lose its meaning if I dont include these marks... I frikkin hate them... Again there is no standard way of using also.. In the US you will find that USD 4,000.00 means that it is 4 thousand dollars and Zero cents... The same amount has to be written as 4.000,00 in Europe ... Isnt that crazy?? Anyways now that you ve come this far you can put commas and dots as you wish and decipher this code .... Watch out for more Travelogs to come...
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9 comments:
Don't hate punctuation marks. If it were not for these alot of the editors would be out of jobs.
They are a means to put the body language in writing.
Now my dear Ram, go back to your 'Wren and Martin' and read up the part where they explain commas are for short pauses and periods for longer ones. :-)
General notion is that You have to be really good in English. I ve realised that as long as you can communicate and make your point thats more than enough. I dont aspire to be a writer or English Orator. Sometimes I feel GRE and GMAT are way too tough on their English, when you really dont need such a High level of English to be a Good Engineer or Businessman. It all depends on your skillsets and your talents. What do you think?? I am sure same applied to other professions as well.
Don't be hatin' the comma dude. Check out this essay called "In praise of the humble comma" by Pico Iyer on when to use and when not to use the comma. Funny stuff.
I wouldn't say that an engineer or a businessman does not need punctuation. Engineers and businessmen have to deal with a large variety of people both more and less educated and literate then them. Using correct punctuation can and will overcome any potential confusions that may occur from improper usage of the language. I do sound like I'm preaching. Oh well!
Eats shoots and leaves :- The title of this classic book on punctuation says it all. Is it talking about a gangsta who eats, shoots someone and leaves the place or is it about a giraffe which eats "shoots and leaves"? Figure that one out. And my reply to all your comments. (I wish there was another way to do this!!!) I'm sure you can fugure out which is for which.
@Sriram: Mums tend to have expectations that their kids don't meet. I expect Ken to protest against school. He SO doesn't meet my expectation when he protests against holidays!!!! As always the generation gap continues. But on a serious note, I wouldn't exchange him for any other kid.
@ Sriram: Aiyoo Ramaa!!! I don't know about all women, but I certainly do. If I do die, I want to look all pretty so when my photo appears in the paper people will cluck and say "What a lovely girl!! She shouldn't have died!!!" Oh Vanity!!!!!
@ Sriram: (on the perfume) So why did you buy it? because the shop was cool or because of peer pressure? Or did you just need a perfume?
@ Sriram: A mix of both I think. :) (provoking+sour garpes. :))
@ sriram: (on being a woman) It's not easy. But I wouldn't exchange. I can't imagine a life without my clothes, accessories and vital stats :)
One more: @ Sriram: (Seinfeld) I agree its Americanism. But what else can we expect in the media of the MacWorld? And I usually watch it for laughs too, but this was a university essay that I had to hand in. A++ :)
Did you read my rant on river linking project? Wondering what you think about it? :-)
@careless: I guess since you ve replied to my comments on your blog in different posts, that should be sufficient. Its nice of you to summarize it all here, but I think I will read it on your blog itself. Just that it seems totally out of place w.r.t other comments.
Thanks for the tip about the pic ...
Btw, I know the date is 5th ... Yahoo did not give me any options to defer the delivery ...
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