Eats, Shoots and Leaves

Status
Not open for further replies.

WerenCole

Funny what? Do I amuse you?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 15, 2005
Messages
2,212
Reaction score
581
Location
The Hub
For all my grammar sticklers out there.

Okay, I am not a grammar stickler. I am aware of the rules though when I write I tend to mess things up a bit. (Should there be a comma in that sentence, where exactly does the period go if I am paranthesizing the statement in the last sentence with this sentence. . . is paranthesizing a word? Or perhaps it should be a paranthetical expression?)

There is this really funny book out there by this great English grammar stickler lady. (Redundant sentence with and. . . oh no, adverb!) It is called Eats, Shoots and Leaves. I can't remember her name but I will get back to you on the specifics when I go home and get the book. The title of the book is predicated on a variation of this joke:

A Panda walks into a restaurant and orders lunch. When lunch is served the Panda eats it, stands up to go and fires two shots into the air with a pistol then turns to leave.

"Why?" Asks the perplexed waiter. The panda says nothing but rather takes out a nature guide, throws it on the table and leaves. The waiter picks up the nature guide and flips to the definition of a panda. Panda= Eats, Shoots and Leaves.


Grammar Sticklers Unite! Use this thread to post all the messed up grammar in the world that you run across. The lady (I will get her name. . . really. And I will try not to use too many ellipses. And I will try not to start sentences with the word And. And end them for that matter. . . really, where the-hell does that period go? Can I make the-hell into a hyphenated word? Why not?) has this one particular pet peeve about some movie poster and signs for bananas in family owned grocery stores. (What was wrong with that sentence? Can I break a sentence with a paranthetical expression that contains a couple sentences of its own, with their own punctuation?) Find me things like that.

Go find an MLA handbook, arm yourself with the latest edition of Strunks and White comb your town for grammatical castatrophes.

You can start with this post. I told you I wasn't a grammar stickler.

Happy Hunting!
 

alleycat

Still around
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
72,873
Reaction score
12,224
Location
Tennessee
Lynne Truss.

I read it some time ago. I was expecting her to be like one of those high school teachers who believes it was cast in stone, along with the Ten Commandments, to not to begin a sentence with "and" or end with a preposition. Instead I found her to be flexible about several grammar issues, with reasoned arguments about what's important and what isn't.
 

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary
Poetry Book Collaborator
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Oct 17, 2005
Messages
13,050
Reaction score
3,524
Age
55
Website
www.trumpstump2016.com
I thought this thread title was the Robert Blake murder in 4 words or less.
 

Dollywagon

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 9, 2006
Messages
1,028
Reaction score
141
I hate it.

I tried for ages to get it, got it, still don't get it.

OK, I know I'm useless at grammar, but the point is that I want to be good. It didn't help one bit. In fact it made me more confused.

When I do get to understand it, I'm going to write a really good book on grammar, just for people like me - I mean it.
 

MidnightMuse

Midnight Reading
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 23, 2006
Messages
8,424
Reaction score
2,554
Location
In the toidy.
Yes, a great book. I also love her book on the decline of manners: Talk to the Hand.

I've loaned Eats, Shoots and Leaves to a lot of people who loved both her grammar and her writing style.
 

Deleted member 42

Truss is funny, and opinionated but she frequently departs from standard American convention, so be wary if that's your market.
 

WerenCole

Funny what? Do I amuse you?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 15, 2005
Messages
2,212
Reaction score
581
Location
The Hub
MM. . . my copy was loaned to me, that is why I do not have it on hand to get her name and such. I regretfully gave it back.

Yeah, Truss is an English lady, so the book can be a touch confusing if you are looking at grammar from an American perspective, but still worth the hour or so it takes to read.
 

MidnightMuse

Midnight Reading
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 23, 2006
Messages
8,424
Reaction score
2,554
Location
In the toidy.
Yes, that's a good point. She does make quick mention of it at the start, but it's easy to forget her British perspective doesn't always fit the American grammar. To add to my own confusion, I was edited for years by a Brit raised in Canada, who mocked my Americanisms.

There's something to be said for communicating via cave drawings.
 

aadams73

A Work in Progress
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
9,901
Reaction score
6,428
Location
Oregon
Equally helpful is "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Connor.
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,447
Reaction score
25,473
Location
Snow Cave
WerenCole said:
Go find an MLA handbook, arm yourself with the latest edition of Strunks and White comb your town for grammatical castatrophes.

You can start with this post. I told you I wasn't a grammar stickler.

Happy Hunting!
I've shared this before, but recently I returned to the same store. The hand-lettered sign had been replaced with a professionally-printed placard above a handy little device which organizes many items in a woman's purse. The sign shows a messy purse + the organizer = a tidy purse, and reads:

Wa! La!

Maryn, shaking her head all over again
 

arrowqueen

RIP, our sarky besom
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
2,653
Reaction score
722
Location
Scotland
Jeezo. I'm getting slow in my old age. It took me ages to work that one out.
 

Bubastes

bananaed
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 7, 2006
Messages
7,394
Reaction score
2,250
Website
www.gracewen.com
Maryn said:
Wa! La!

Maryn, shaking her head all over again

*sighing and shaking head along with Maryn*

I suppose it could be worse. It could have said "viola!"

Um, no, no stringed instruments here....
 

aadams73

A Work in Progress
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
9,901
Reaction score
6,428
Location
Oregon
I wish I had a dollar for every time my sister signed a letter or email with "chow."
(I'd be rich, yes I would)
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,447
Reaction score
25,473
Location
Snow Cave
Got another one, from a source which ought to be able to afford a proofreader.

Woman attacked by lion in fair condition (Yahoo, January 2004)​

Maryn, who hopes that if a lion ever attacks her, it's one in good condition
 

aadams73

A Work in Progress
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
9,901
Reaction score
6,428
Location
Oregon
:roll:

Last night on the evening news they had a headline that(which?) read, "Theives beware!"
 

allion

Character assassin
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 14, 2005
Messages
538
Reaction score
117
Location
On the sofa, with cat and laptop
On a crawl for some show or other, they had "Moter Trend" instead of "Motor Trend." I know the news crawls are not the best place to look for good spelling or grammar, but sheesh. If you're going to plop it at the bottom of the screen and make it move, at least spell the words correctly.

Karen
 

Cyjon

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
92
Reaction score
12
Location
Phoenix, AZ
Website
andyhumphrey.net
The last time I visited my father I saw his wife had a copy of "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" on the coffee table. I flipped through it and saw that she was going through it and correcting it. Now THAT is a stickler (or a retiree with way too much time on her hands). She also regularly cuts out articles from the paper and sends them to the editor with corrections.
 

Dawno

Shiny!
Super Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
11,261
Reaction score
3,279
Age
66
Location
someplace around here, anyone seen my keys?
I always want to add the Oxford (or serial) comma to that title. Hey, it's how I was taught back in the dark ages, ok? There are a lot of places where I've seen the following apocryphal dedication quoted over and over as the best justification for the Oxford comma: "To my parents, Ayn Rand and God" :D
 

Cyjon

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
92
Reaction score
12
Location
Phoenix, AZ
Website
andyhumphrey.net
Imelda said:
I wonder what she thought were mistakes.

I couldn't even bring myself to look. I just closed the book when I saw her correction marks. She's one of those people who has to find flaws where none exist.
 

ChunkyC

It's hard being green
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
12,297
Reaction score
2,135
Location
trapped between my ears
Does she know it's a British book? She must, if she's reading it, since the author mentions it quite prominently at the beginning and often refers to the difference between British and American rules and usage.
 

Cyjon

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
92
Reaction score
12
Location
Phoenix, AZ
Website
andyhumphrey.net
ChunkyC said:
Does she know it's a British book? She must, if she's reading it, since the author mentions it quite prominently at the beginning and often refers to the difference between British and American rules and usage.

I spent many years trying to find logic in her actions before realizing there is none. If God himself appeared before her, she'd find something wrong with his shoes.
 

LucindaLynx

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 25, 2005
Messages
628
Reaction score
112
Location
Finland
About grammar....

Dollywagon said:
I tried for ages to get it, got it, still don't get it.

OK, I know I'm useless at grammar, but the point is that I want to be good.

Hi Dollywagon!
You are not alone. I do not know about that book you mentioned, but I know my grammar is not the best when it comes to writing in English.
 

WerenCole

Funny what? Do I amuse you?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 15, 2005
Messages
2,212
Reaction score
581
Location
The Hub
I love road signs:

Slow Men Working

Slow Children at Play. . .
 
Status
Not open for further replies.