I am amazed that the book is doing so well!! I'd like to get a copy - just to encourage the author, if nothing else!
When I was a child, my mother seemed to believe that the use of good grammar and proper punctuation were clear signs of "good breeding" (her words, not mine!). So I grew up in a "Zero Tolerance" household. I admit that by virtue of my age, not my economic status, I went to schools where virtually all of the students shared a common ethnic background (which is to say, white, Anglo-Saxon, and for-the-most-part, protestant). But, as I learned later in life, "You are what you were when..." (Essentially, your values are formed for you at age 10, re-evaluated by you and solidified at age 20)... I became a dyed-in-the-wool member of the language police! Then, as a young, ~fairly~ fresh-out-of-college professional, I began to work with people who were deaf. Hmmm... the concept of "total communication" sank in quickly. Doesn't matter how you say it, as long as the other person understands what you're trying to day (I was working with sign language, obviously, where my clients were usually more fluent than I!). So the chink in the armor had been made. It was only after I began to work with a more diverse population that I realized what was happening in our schools - and in our country - and evidently to all English-speaking countries... Not everyone is brought up with the same standards of speech and composition. The fact is, when you are living in desperate conditions and unable to adequately feed and clothe your family, you aren't quite so concerned about how they phrase their sentence when they cry that they're cold or hungry or sick. That's how it was for decades with the critically poor in our country. Things have improved a great deal for the poorest of the poor... not many people starve unless they, or their caregivers, refuse to accept the help offered. But that doesn't mean that their history has changed. They were taught to speak by the people who raised them. And then they went to public schools (public in the US means government-supported) where they were thrown in with the "the rest of us". Can you imagine how that must have seemed? No wonder they quickly developed a cultural language of their own, (which they continue to change as soon as it becomes "mainstream") and no wonder the various ethnicities take pride in their differences! And so, there is now a "tolerance" for the differences in the schools. There HAS to be - or no teaching would occur at ALL - not because the teachers weren't good enough, but because the students wouldn't be receptive. So the outcome is that our institutions of higher learning are cranking our graduates who can't speak or write decently to save their lives, but they're still securing lucrative jobs, positions of power and authority (George W. Bush comes to mind...)... But some of us still value the beauty of the "well turned phrase", and for those who aspire to communicate meaningfully with us, the book, "Eats shoots and leaves - The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation", will be very useful! And we die-hard language police can simply sigh blissfully as we take it to bed with us at night! Clay, hopping gracefully off my soap-box and returning to lurkdom. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean Nathan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Chat" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2004 1:54 PM Subject: [lace-chat] Language is cool > Tamara wrote: > > <Of course, we were not > taught the rule (i before e, is it?) when I was in school > > > I learnt it as "i before e except after c only if it rhymes with me", but > then there's bound to be exceptions to that. > > This afternoon I bought the book "Eats shoots and leaves - The Zero > Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" by Lynne Truss, which is Number 3 on at > least the local non-fiction bestsellers list. Supposed to be very readable. > On the back of the dust wrapper is: > > "A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun > and fires two shots in the air. > "Why?" asked the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The > panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his > shoulder. > "I'm a panda, "he says, at the door. "Look it up." > The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an > explanation. > "Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, > shoots and leaves." > Sp puncuation really does matter, even if it is only occasionally a matter > of life and death. > This is the zero tolerance guide. > > Jean in Poole > > To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: > unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
