Scanning the feeds this morning, my interest was raised by the title of one of grahame's posts: Lost Consonants which, as he points out in his piece, was the name of a great series of one-frame photo montages by Graham Rawle that have run in The Guardian over the years. In recent months, Rawle has deftly switched to a new series called 'Vowel Movements' which are equally funny. This week's features a couple in a passionate embrace on a sofa with the woman holding a Tupperware pot of small green leaves - the caption reads: Susan yearned to feel her lover's sweet c(a)ress
All this is particularly pertinent as, amongst other things, I am currently reading Lynne Truss' Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Although I was initially attracted to the book by the title and the premise, it was the vast range of opinions in it's reviews that sealed the deal for me. Believe me, folks don't feel luke warm about this book. Some adore the brittle humour and up-tight fuming that come every time the author finds another case of poor punctuation. Others despise Truss' proto-pedant lingua-fascist approach, railing that, in this world of email and txt mssgs, all lower case and no commas is just fine. What makes me laugh is that those who castigate Truss in their reviews display pretty much the same fervour in slamming her as she does in decrying bad punctuation. QED as one (anti) reviewer wrote.
Posted by bignoseduglyguy at February 29, 2004 11:47 AM | TrackBacki'm in 2 minds about buying that book. will it really help ?
Posted by: zed at February 29, 2004 02:02 PMZ
As a guide to everyday punctuation, I doubt that it will help as it is not laid out as a reference book.
As a rant against those that dare to misuse apostrophe's and fail to grasp the comma,s importance in literature, it's a hoot.
Posted by: bignoseduglyguy at February 29, 2004 02:11 PMhehe - nice reply.
i suppose it must be useful for teachers and copywriters/proof-readers. i'm not sure how far i'd get with it apart from thinking that the book is a sexual innuendo.
Posted by: zed at February 29, 2004 06:04 PMI read East Shoots etc recently and it is quite fascinating in a tedious sort of way. I know people who are really Pedantic with a capital P and I have some sympathy with there position. More interesting is the use of it in journalism. Not sure I'd want to spend too much time in the author's company though - the feeling would probably be mutual of course.
Posted by: Grahame at March 2, 2004 10:08 AM