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Powerful Punctuation

edited August 2010 in - Writing Tales
"A woman without her man is nothing"

Students were asked to punctuate this phrase.

All of the males in the class wrote:



"A woman, without her man, is nothing."


All the females in the class wrote:

"A woman: without her, man is nothing."
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Comments

  • There's a Facebook group called "'Let's Eat Grandma!' or 'Let's Eat, Grandma!' - Punctuation Saves Lives."

    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=229461367274
  • edited August 2010
    Love it, though I'm afraid I went for the first one, even though I'm female... (crikey, what does that say about me :( ??)
  • I guess it means you'd have eaten Grandma.
  • You were in touch with your male side, Rosalie.
  • Growl!

    Quick, pass me that latest electronic gadget while I plan my journey using this 3D map!

    Brrrmmmm!!!!!
  • edited August 2010
    I don't think the original sentence needs punctuating as it makes perfect sense. Just kidding!
  • I went for the first one too.

    Please, don't stop.
    Please don't, stop.

    Quoted that during a writing lecture - never forgotten it.
  • BB, that sends a chill through my heart. The excuse many men have used that stops a woman taking it to court. (No offence male TBers - I'm not generalising.)
  • pbwpbw
    edited April 2013
    Reviving this thread. Help please, guys. Is it

    tee shirt?
    teeshirt?
    tee-shirt?
  • Nothing wrong with T-shirt actch.
  • Okay, we'll consider it. My main problem at the moment is inconsistency. I have to decide on one format and stick to it.
  • I always thought it was t-shirt.
  • It may well be, dora.
  • My Collins Dictionary for Writers and Editors- a few years old now, says T-shirt, but also tee shirt.
  • Ah ha! Thank you. I might stick to tee shirt.
  • edited April 2013
    Ditto from New Oxford Style Manual.

    Although personally I'd use top...

    ;)
  • I'll think about "top", but I prefer the precision of tee shirt (as opposed to other kinds of tops).
  • Ooh, we're on the t's again are we .......

    my dictionary says 'tannoy' and not 'Tannoy' ;)



    tee shirt may well be the right one, pbw, but it always makes me think of golf

    not the car :) but then, sometimes, one never knows .....
  • I always thought it was T-shirt, because they're shaped like the letter T.
  • Tannoys me when I have to go to bed 'cos it's work tomorrow. Does that tannoy you, Dora? ;)
  • Tannoys me I have to get up at 6.30 am, McB, as my children are back to school and I'd much rather be laying in and snoring me 'ed off than getting up.
  • [quote=danfango]I always thought it was T-shirt, because they're shaped like the letter T.[/quote]

    Yes, you're quite right, actually. Maybe I should change it back to that, but I've never quite liked it. Somehow T-shirt looks too "product description" and jolts me out of the narrative.

    "Today she wore a turquoise T-shirt with an orange butterfly motif on it."

    "Today she wore a turquoise tee shirt with an orange butterfly motif on it."

    I don't know now. What do you think?
  • [quote=pbw]Somehow T-shirt looks too "product description" and jolts me out of the narrative.[/quote]

    For God'sake!

    [quote=pbw]"Today she wore a turquoise T-shirt with an orange butterfly motif on it."[/quote]

    Nothing wrong with this at all
  • [quote=neil]For God'sake![/quote]

    Okay, I'm OCD. I don't care! :D
  • Keep up the OCD pbw - it only means Overly Conscientious Darling, and what's wrong with that?
  • Or an

    Openly Confessional Dillydallyer

    but again, what's wrong with that? :)
  • I've changed it to T-shirt in the manuscript. I think it does look okay, but I haven't convinced myself.

    If T-shirt suggests "hippie", that's good, but if hippies wore/wear tee shirts, then I'll have to change it back again.
  • I always understood it to be Old Confused Doxy
  • [quote=snailmale]Doxy[/quote]

    Huh!
  • You're OK with old and confused, then?
  • I prefer to call it CDO because it's just not right unless the letters are in alphabetical order.
  • [quote=snailmale]You're OK with old and confused, then?[/quote]

    20 years ago I would have said "A bit less of the old".
  • I love the word 'Doxy', it is so visual. But I do write historical, so the word has visual connotation to me...:)
  • Poxy doxy.
  • [quote=pbw]Poxy doxy. [/quote]

    Quite. ;)
  • Personally, I'm worried about the colour combination of the garment. Turquoise and orange? Are sunglasses involved? Outrageously Contradictory Darling. ;)
  • If its for Miss Sagittarius, it will be just perfect.
  • For my ten peneth worth - consider your audience, generation naughties are not going to use tee. They use t-shirt.
    OCD, me, only when it comes to a liberal splashing of commas. Or tea.
  • [quote=SilverLinings]OCD, me, only when it comes to a liberal splashing of commas. [/quote]

    God be praised, I thought it was just me! How are you with semi-colons and colons?
  • [quote=mcbemused]If its for Miss Sagittarius, it will be just perfect.[/quote]

    She IS a Sagittarius - how did you know? Anyway, turquoise and orange are opposites on the colour wheel, so they are fine together.
  • [quote=SilverLinings]generation naughties are not going to use tee. They use t-shirt. [/quote]

    So far, I have settled on T-shirt, but I could change it to t-shirt.
  • Typical woman. Always changing clothes.
  • [quote=pbw] how did you know?[/quote]

    I've read your book pbw.

    The quotes are a bit odd in the threads lately.
  • [quote=Maro]The quotes are a bit odd in the threads lately.[/quote]
    Not quite sure what you're referring to, here.
    Thanks for reading my book, Maro.

    Here's another question, spelling this time, rather than writing.

    Which is more contemporary "hippie" or "hippy"?
    I think the "ie" ending may be the correct one, but somehow I have ended up with both spellings in my text and I'll have to settle on one of them.
  • Hippie, is a variant but I suppose it depends on the age of the person reading your story way back in the 1960's
    it was, Hippy.

    The quotes are are right but sometimes the person being quoted is wrong.
    My post 1 day ago and your quote 16hrs ago.
    I have noticed this on other threads also.
  • [quote=Maro]The quotes are are right but sometimes the person being quoted is wrong.[/quote]

    Oh yes, now I remember, when TB gets indigestion. You can edit it manually, though.
  • [quote=Maro]Hippie, is a variant but I suppose it depends on the age of the person reading your story way back in the 1960's
    it was, Hippy.[/quote]

    It matters what the contemporary reader would prefer, I think, rather than being historically correct. My 23rd century hippies (phew, no probs with the plural) are a manifestation of their time, in the same way as "new age" evolves. If "hippy" seems old-fashioned but authentic, I would rather have "hippie" as the updated format.

    Any other offerings?
  • Typical hippies, causing rebellion :) I hadn't thought about it until now. I think I usually type "hippie". If I type "hippy" in this box I get a squiggly red underline.
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