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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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My great-grandfather taught English, and he liked to enlighten his students as to the importance of proper punctuation by posing this...
Punctuate this to render meaning:
that that is is that that is not is not
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That that is, is; that that is not, is not.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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that, that is, is that! that is not "is not"?!
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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BYB wins my great-grandfather's award, and tsuwm wins the creativity ribbon.
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Anonymous
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I remember there being a similar exercise in grade school, to the effect of:
Mary: "Mom, do you mind helping me with my homework?"
Mom: "No, I don't want to do it now."
punctuated properly, Mom's response has an entirely different meaning:
"No, I don't. Want to do it now?"
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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that that is is that that is not is not is not that so
I vaguely remember the existence of one that could be taken as a male chauvinist rant when punctuated one way and as a sharp feminist rebuttal when punctuated another.
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Makes you wonder what the Elizabethans did, before the rules of punctuation settled themselves. At first I wondered how Aristotle, Seneca, Lucretius and other ancient writers managed, but then it occurred to me that Latin and Greek have such elaborate grammar that lack of punctuation could hardly matter.
There isn't any punctuation in Asiatic languages, like Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, etc. is there? Obviously they manage. Perhaps some of our Asian experts can enlighten us.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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How about the maiden's plea: don't stop don't stop don't stop don't stop don't stop ( seven "!'s")
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
At first I wondered how Aristotle, Seneca, Lucretius and other ancient writers managed
Julius Caesar was well known, among other things, for the fact that he could read to himself. Everybody else read out loud all the time because it was the only way to cope with the fact that not only was there no punctuation there were no spaces between the words. It must have been absolute bedlam in public libraries.
Bingley
Bingley
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But could Caesar read to himself without moving his lips?
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