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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: punctuation

punctuation stories: 3 news summaries

(Newser) - Word processors, dot-matrix printers, rotary phones, and other formerly state-of-the-art technologies are just about gone and nearly forgotten. Carrying the torch for the likes of holding up a cigarette lighter at a concert is JR Raphael of PC World, who lists 40 leading lights of abandoned technology:
  • Looking up
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
music • technology • punctuation • typewriter • printers • pay phones • phone booth • grammar • word processor • boombox • phone book • phone directory • rotary phone • cigarette lighter • mix tape

OPINION

The—Problem—With—Em—Dashes

Lionel Shriver laments the loss of the semicolon to its curt cousin

May 8, 09 3:51 PM CDT
(Newser) - A punctuation plague is raging through contemporary prose, indulged in by ordinarily excellent writers and hacks alike. It’s the “em dash,” writes Lionel Shriver for Standpoint—that punchy, aggressive punctuation mark beloved for its flexibility. It can replace the geriatric semicolon, linking two elements of a single... More »

MORE ABOUT:
writing • journalism • style • punctuation • opinion

Hyphen Takes a
Knockout Blow

Or should that still
be knock-out?
Dictionary drops
16,000 of them

Sep 21, 07 9:17 AM CDT
(Newser) - The new edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary has far fewer of everyone's favorite little connector. Editors have dropped 16,000 hyphens from all sorts of compound words: "Fig-leaf" is now "fig leaf," "chick-pea" has become "chickpea."  Email is the culprit, reports... More »

MORE ABOUT:
oxford english dictionary • punctuation

3 Stories


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