March 2, 2011
In Defense of Pedantry Recently, in response to a nationwide quandry, the NYT deployed its finest grammarians to investigate the burning issue of the apostrophe in “a holiday called Presidents’ Day or President’s Day or Presidents Day.” Our savvy readers will no doubt instantly note the identity crisis striking at the heart of our already polarized nation: we the people have no idea how to punctuate that (al)most patriotic of domestic holidays, President(‘)s(‘) Day. No wonder Republicans, Democrats, and Tea Baggers cannot sit down and rationally converse! In addition to pointing a virtual but undoubtedly chalk-dusted finger at the divided state of our politics, this article also addresses economic issues. In southern Louisiana, “punctuation and tight budgets have collided. New welcome-to-the-parish signs urge visitors to ‘please put litter in it’s place.’ Local officials acknowledge the blunder, but they have told reporters that they simply have no money for replacement signs.” Quelle horreur, as MKS would say. Any NYT article that begins with such fine investigative journalism as citations of signage from not one but four big box chain stores must end with a reference to Twitter. Clyde Haberman, our eager grammarian, does not disappoint. By confining tweets to 140 characters, he writes, “the punctuation mark is often the first thing to disappear.” Meanings blur when words are deprived of our familiar dots and squiggles. Whether this malleability cheapens or enriches tweettext remains to be determined. His final series of puns, for example, almost undermine his defense of clarity through their potential for rich ambiguity: “if won’t is your wont, you simply can’t stand the cant.” Where is the categorical imperative here?  My real question, though, and this query is surely something that burns in everyone’s heart of hearts, involves the placement of the apostrophe in “farmer(‘)s(‘) market.” How am I supposed to blog confidently about recent purchases of organic rainbow chard and raw milk camembert from the Hudson Valley if I cannot correctly punctuate the source of these finds? Surely when the NYT Magazine does a Brooklyn-related follow-up, all my anxieties will be dissolved.  ARC  

In Defense of Pedantry

Recently, in response to a nationwide quandry, the NYT deployed its finest grammarians to investigate the burning issue of the apostrophe in “a holiday called Presidents’ Day or President’s Day or Presidents Day.” Our savvy readers will no doubt instantly note the identity crisis striking at the heart of our already polarized nation: we the people have no idea how to punctuate that (al)most patriotic of domestic holidays, President(‘)s(‘) Day. No wonder Republicans, Democrats, and Tea Baggers cannot sit down and rationally converse!

In addition to pointing a virtual but undoubtedly chalk-dusted finger at the divided state of our politics, this article also addresses economic issues. In southern Louisiana, “punctuation and tight budgets have collided. New welcome-to-the-parish signs urge visitors to ‘please put litter in it’s place.’ Local officials acknowledge the blunder, but they have told reporters that they simply have no money for replacement signs.” Quelle horreur, as MKS would say.

Any NYT article that begins with such fine investigative journalism as citations of signage from not one but four big box chain stores must end with a reference to Twitter. Clyde Haberman, our eager grammarian, does not disappoint. By confining tweets to 140 characters, he writes, “the punctuation mark is often the first thing to disappear.” Meanings blur when words are deprived of our familiar dots and squiggles. Whether this malleability cheapens or enriches tweettext remains to be determined. His final series of puns, for example, almost undermine his defense of clarity through their potential for rich ambiguity: “if won’t is your wont, you simply can’t stand the cant.” Where is the categorical imperative here? 

My real question, though, and this query is surely something that burns in everyone’s heart of hearts, involves the placement of the apostrophe in “farmer(‘)s(‘) market.” How am I supposed to blog confidently about recent purchases of organic rainbow chard and raw milk camembert from the Hudson Valley if I cannot correctly punctuate the source of these finds? Surely when the NYT Magazine does a Brooklyn-related follow-up, all my anxieties will be dissolved. 

ARC

 

11:30pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZeVwMy3NSyih
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