Thursday, July 26, 2007

Colbert on punctuation

Colbert opened tonight with words to this effect:
Hey! Semicolon, comma, or period. Pick a side. We're at war.
You know where I stand, gentle reader, and there's no need to waste more words on this topic among us. It's like liveblogging the devolution somehow …

Crucial correction … Hey, semicolon: comma or period, pick a side. We're at war. (See the last two comments.)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kurt Vonnegut's take on it was a little less warlike and more of a mandate:

"Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college."

Me, I like the poor semicolon and the colon alike, so I guess I just have to be a conscientious objector. Sorry, Steve Colbert.

The Ridger, FCD said...

How can a hermaphrodite be a transvestite? Do they dress like asexuals?

Mr. Verb said...

Colon didn't even make his list ... for reasons I don't know. A certain group of people on campus refer to 'question marks' as 'marks of interrogation', carrying on a Gallicism of a famous 20th c. linguist. Colbert should be like that one, but I imagine he hates question marks.

And I wonder what the answers to the Ridger's questions would be.

Anonymous said...

Mr. V, you got the punctuation wrong in the quote!!! And we know how imperative punctuation is. I would have written:
"Hey, Semicolon: comma or period?"
Well, I guess I married you for your verbal abilities, not your punctuation.

The Ridger, FCD said...

Hey, just caught the rerun, and what Stephen actually said was: Hey, semicolon - comma or colon: pick a side. We're at war!"

Mr. Verb said...

Doh!!! Intonation matters!