Text messaging addicts, take note: the following quotes have identical wording, differing only in punctuation.
Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart. I can be forever happy — will you let me be yours?
Gloria
… vs. …
Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we’re apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?
Yours,
Gloria
HT: Michael Ramsden
This is the story of my life when it comes to being misunderstood…
Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.
Ah, yes, the dreaded serial comma. Consider a book dedicated thusly:
Me? I am never misunderstood with anything I write here on the blogs.
I really hate people. Who love writing bad things. About others. 😉
Now those are just sentence fragments, not examples of incorrect punctuation!
That was a pretty sorry attempt by me, so let me try again.
“My wife, said our dog, is stupid and lazy”.
Better? Definitely funnier as incorrect punctuation can magically give a dog the ability to speak. 🙂
That is some funny stuff! Thanks for the laughs.
t
On a more serious note, the problem gets even worse when dealing with ancient languages. There is no question mark in Hebrew, for example, so a passage like Exod 6:2-3 could be translated:
And God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am Yahweh, and I made myself known to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El Shaddai, but by my name, Yahweh, I did not make myself known to them.”
OR
And God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am Yahweh, and I made myself known to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El Shaddai, and my name is Yahweh; Did I not make myself known to them?”
The second option is one solution to the problem of how Exod 6:3 can be reconciled with Gen 4:26.