[Alyson Kuhn] Yesterday was National Punctuation Day® – the sixth National Punctuation Day, to be precise. And I almost missed it! Fortunately, I found out just in time to e-mail the day’s founder, Jeff Rubin. First, I asked him for a few images. Then, I asked if I could invite myself to the judging of the first National Punctuation Day Cookie Contest next week. Think I’m joking?
National Punctuation Day gets lots of media attention. We could say that good grammar makes good news. And good puns, too. Like this sub-head in the Peninsula Coastline blog: help for the commatose and clausetrophobic. John Kelly interviewed Jeff for The Washington Post – his wordplays are wonderful and his punctation perfectly polished. Do I sound dotty with delight? Today, at noon, John hosted Jeff in an hour-long Live Q & A. I received helpful responses to both my punctuation queries, one about hyphenating ages {the precocious 3-year-old} and the other about final s’s after an apostrophe {Chris’s, Frances’s}.
Would you like some theme music while you read the rest of this? Choose between the rap version and the blues version of Jeff’s Punctuation Rap. Jeff and his wife, Norma Martínez-Rubin, want us to have fun with punctuation, but they are totally serious about its importance in communication. The National Punctuation Day website features photos of poorly-punctuated signage. {Look left, to see vigilant Jeff at a health club in Kentucky. He wonders how it stays in business with only one member.} Jeff and Norma have developed an assembly presentation called Punctuation Playtime – which they’ve performed almost 75 times for elementary school students around the country. They offer a training DVD for teachers, administrators and parent groups.
Yesterday was a BIG day for the Rubins. Jeff had a radio interview with a station in Lincoln, Nebraska, at the crack of dawn. Then, he and Norma drove to Sacramento, to bake punctuation cookies {oatmeal raisin} on Fox News for two minutes, then home again… to several hundred e-mails and more, more, more media coverage, including Ben Rayner’s swell piece in the Toronto Star. Speaking of baking, it’s a popular form of expression for punctuation enthusiasts. {Look left to see a copyediting class at Kent State University minding their pizza and q’s. Additional delish details right here.}
OK, I’ll go comma down now… or maybe I’ll listen to the blues version one more time and see if it still makes me laugh.
Photos courtesy of Jeff Rubin, our punctuation superhero.
Alyson Kuhn, the editor of Felt & Wire, draws your attention to the big comma on the facade of her historic Post Office. {Photo: Michael Osborne}
