In celebration of National Punctuation Day … some punctuation tidbits!

Did you know that Sept. 24 is National Punctuation Day? Are your commas and semi-colons and exclamation points all in order? Here are a few tidbits to celebrate the day:


• In honor of this auspicious occasion, Jeff Rubin, the founder of National Punctuation Day (NPD) launched a National Punctuation Day Haiku contest. The deadline is Sept. 30, so you only have a few days to pen an elegant 5-7-5 syllable ditty. The winners will receive NPD products that Rubin sells on the website. To enter the contest, send your best punctuation haikus to Jeff@NationalPunctuationDay.com. For samples of haikus about punctuation and more information about the contest, check out the home page of NPD.

• Michelle V. Rafter, journalist and founder of WordCount blog, recognized NPD with a blog post today that is loaded with good grammar resources. Bookmark this page to make this handy list instantly available when you have a question!



• Have you ever heard of the interrobang punctuation mark? Here’s a quirky little punctuation mark that never caught on, but I can see it has great possibilities. It’s a combination of a question mark overlaid with an exclamation point. I’m positive that my mother frequently vocalized this odd punctuation mark during my teen years without even knowing it.

• Where did punctuation marks come from anyway? Read a brief article by English professor and author Richard Nordquist on About.com to get a peek into the roots of the most common punctuation marks.

• Finally, check out The Writer’s November issue to read Chuck Leddy’s Take Note article about two “typo detectives” who criss-crossed the country to correct typos on public signs only to end up in trouble with the federal government when they fixed two typos on a historic sign at the Grand Canyon. Their recently published book, The Great Typo Hunt, contains the full story of their quest.


--Martha Lundin, editorial associate, The Writer

Comments

Matt Phenix wrote re: In celebration of National Punctuation Day … some punctuation tidbits! on Mon, Oct 4 2010 9:11 PM The interrobang is sensational! How did I make it this far without it? Thank you Martha!