{"id":327,"date":"2011-01-16T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2011-01-16T15:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=327"},"modified":"2011-01-17T00:33:38","modified_gmt":"2011-01-17T06:33:38","slug":"a-little-punctuation-can-make-a-big-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=327","title":{"rendered":"A Little Punctuation Can Make a Big Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years ago someone gave me the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves<\/span> <\/a>by Lynne Truss and I loved it!\u00a0 It\u2019s a book about (now brace yourself) punctuation.\u00a0 Yes, I said, \u201cPunctuation!\u201d\u00a0 Who knew that such a book could be so humorous, informative, and popular?\u00a0 The title comes from an old joke, written in its entirety on the back cover.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A panda goes into a caf\u00e9 and orders a sandwich.\u00a0 He eats the sandwich, fires a gun in the air and walks towards the door. The confused waiter asks, \u201cWhy did you do that?\u201d\u00a0 The panda throws him a badly punctuated book on wildlife and says, \u201cLook it up!\u201d\u00a0 So the waiter does.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cPanda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.\u201d<\/p>\n

This illustration confirms that one little comma can make a big difference in what something means!\u00a0 A little punctuation here and there can clarify or confuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many people do not know the Bible was originally written with no punctuation.\u00a0 I recall one person who said, \u201cIf the King James Version of the Bible was good enough for Jesus, it\u2019s good enough for me.\u201d\u00a0 Ah-hem\u2026King James wasn\u2019t around when Jesus was alive.\u00a0 Neither was our present system of punctuation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sometimes a comma placement in the Bible can determine a whole doctrine.\u00a0 For example, when Christ was on the cross speaking to one of the thieves, he made the following statement in Luke 23:43:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0verily i say unto thee this day thou shalt be with me in paradise\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

One interpretation is \u201cVerily, I say unto thee, This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.\u201d\u00a0 This could mean the thief would be in heaven with Jesus that very day.<\/p>\n

However another interpretation is, \u201cVerily, I say unto thee this day, thou shalt be with me in Paradise.\u201d\u00a0 This version indicates that the \u201cthis day\u201d refers to the time when Jesus is actually speaking.\u00a0 Therefore, there might be a possibility of Purgatory or people remaining dead until a resurrection.\u00a0 There is the argument that even though a person may be physically dead, his spirit would go to heaven with Jesus.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

How do we know which version is correct?\u00a0 One would have to research what other passages say about the subject and mesh it together.\u00a0 Since those passages don\u2019t have any punctuation either, it can be a little tricky. To add to the confusion, bear in mind, that when the Bible was written there were no spaces between word or paragraphs or chapters or verses. Also, some words just can\u2019t be translated from one language to another without some interpretation.\u00a0 The Bible has several words for \u201clove,\u201d each with a different meaning; we have only one.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Does this mean we can\u2019t understand the Bible?\u00a0 I think God made it possible for us to understand what we need to understand.\u00a0 But just being knowledgeable about the history of punctuation may protect us from getting bent out of shape over some differences of opinion.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s not forget, your perspective may determine how\u00a0you would\u00a0punctuate and\/or interpret sentences.\u00a0 For example, how would you punctuate the following?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0woman without her man is nothing\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Men might say, \u201cWoman, without her man, is nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Women might say, \u201cWoman! Without her, man is nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which goes to show you \u2013 a little (;-\u201c!:\u2019?,) can make a big difference.\u00a0<\/p>\n

P.S. Someone just gave me another Lynne Truss book entitled Talk to the Hand<\/a>:<\/span>\u00a0 The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door.\u00a0 I think I’m going to like it!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/h1>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years ago someone gave me the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss and I loved it!\u00a0 It\u2019s a book about (now brace yourself) punctuation.\u00a0 Yes, I said, \u201cPunctuation!\u201d\u00a0 Who knew that such a book could be … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}