Friday, February 25, 2011

Punctuation as Culture

Thank goodness for Pico Iyer's essay, "In praise of the humble comma." Here's a quote:
"A world that has only periods is a world without inflections. It is a world without shade. It has a music without sharps and flats. It is a martial music. It has a jackboot rhythm. Words cannot bend and curve. A comma, by comparison, catches the gentle drift of the mind in thought, turning in on itself and back on itself, reversing, redoubling and returning along the course of its own sweet river music; while the semicolon brings clauses and thoughts together with all the silent discretion of a hostess arranging guests around her dinner table."
I can add nothing, but this: Read it twice.

In praise of the humble comma

1 comment:

Carol said...

Thanks for posting. Great piece.