Gimme a C, gimme an O, gimme an M-M-A. Gooooooo, Comma!
Or apostrophe, colon, semicolon, dash, and ellipsis. It’s National Punctuation Day and I’m as pleased as a pack of punctuating people can be!
See, misuse of punctuation is one of those little pet peeves I have. I don’t go on and on about those who missed the punctuation pontoon boat, so to speak. I mean, Lord knows, I’ve misplaced a comma or two in my time. But when I see an apostrophe used incorrectly, I squirm a bit and want to fix the erring mark. And the rampant misuse of the semicolon? Don’t even get me started.
I’ve never met Jeff Rubin (the former newspaperman who instigated the holiday), but I’ll bet he’s a fine fellow. Anyone who celebrates the semicolon, and promotes the proper use of all punctuation, is worth cheering for!
(We’ll discuss ending sentences with prepositions another day.)
Cathy C. Hall Writes 
I had no idea that today is National Punctuation Day; it makes me very happy.Sorry, did my misuse of the semi-colon make you squirm? (I meant to do that…):-)I'm guilty as charged for overuse of elipses.I just like how they look.Thanks for the info!
You're so welcome…and yeah, the ellipsis…totally overdone…but I"m okay with that 🙂
My dyslexic brain never could quite grasp commas. Once in college, my professor said in his pretend British accent professorial tone, IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE CLASS, including the quarterback, "Miss Northington. The rule is NOT, 'When in doubt…commma!'" I also could never grasp that rule for quotes within a quote, so I likely got that wrong too!I also put in a few incorrect commas up there just to cover up the ones that I thought were right but likely weren't. You decide which.
If everybody could agree on commas, then persnickety profs wouldn't have anything to do.I used the word persnickety just to cover up for the word that I thought was right but likely would get me in trouble. You decide which word I meant 🙂