December 28, 2006

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

The Punctuation Game

Not sure what the title means, but this might help me with my oft-criticized apostrophe issues.

My apologies for the meaningless entries of late.

Update 1.2.2007:

This is probably why people take the time to contact me about my grammatic failings. "They reveal that you have paid no attention to your own writing and invite the reader to respond in kind."

That's a great website, by the way. Writing, Clear and Simple is a blog with some great tips on conveying meaning clearly, and I've learned quite a bit from it in the last couple of months. (It's also where I found this punctuation game.)

6 comments:

  1. Assalaamu'alaykum

    Perhaps if you were a high profile writer who people were paying millions to tell it like it is..then maybe, just maybe, there might be some truth in the reason attributed to why people contact you about your grammatical failings. There are a lot of people these days who couldn't care less about another person's use of grammar. I would say, perhaps a more probable reason that people contact you is that with your talent in writing, it's worth informing you about minor adjustments that can improve your presentation all the more. Your grammatical failings, as far as I've seen, rarely detract from the quality of your works. Wa Allahu'alim.

    Anyway, since the comments for this post are fused with your other post.. I'll make reference to what you said in the comments there... (something about feeling silly that you need help with apostraphes). Oh contraire mon frere... It's not silly at all. In fact, I'd say it'll serve to make improvements in the least likely places. You must admit, it's a humbling experience to seek help in an area where you often demonstrate some expertise. Humility has a reputation of only further beautifying whatever it touches.

    May God give you success, and help you to use your writing in only the best of ways...ameen.

    *We use so many words but have so little to relay, as angels scribble down every letter that we say...* - Brother Dawud W. Ali

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  2. Wa'alaykum assalam,

    Ahem... "au contraire", not "oh contraire."

    Two can play at this game!

    In all honesty, I appreciate the suggestions, which is why I mentioned this punctuation game in the first place.

    Ameen to your du'a.

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  3. Assalaamu'alaykum

    *cough* *cough*... typos I tell ya!...lol. I mean.. that's..uhm.. Frenglish.

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  4. Wa'alaykum assalam,

    Typos, eh? In that case, I'll ignore your perpetually incorrect spelling of the word "apostrophe." :)

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  5. Salaams

    After reading this exchange, i am tempted to only use easy-to-spell monosyllabic words when in the presence of Faraz, lest i make a mistake and be virtually pelted with digitized rotten tomatoes!

    Or i could just use spell-check...

    Wa'salam

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  6. Assalaamu'alaykum

    Uh oh... let the games begin! Me no speek-a da inglis esai...

    If this continues, we're gonna need a score board soon. But hey, mucho gracias for pointing the perpetual type-"O" error. Btw, you still have a correction pending, but it's better like this. It's become a trademark. Maybe it just needs a registered "R" next to it. :)

    IMuslim, fear not sister... I think the brother actually holds back most corrections. It's just the chronic ones he makes subtle mention of, at least from what I've gathered. But even if that wasn't the case, and instead he managed to steal some snow balls from Calvin to use as ammunition against the linguistic transgressors.... there would remain only three words to defend yourself.... Bring it on! But, of course, this is all purely hy-po-thet-i-cal.

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