Skip to content

Punctuation pugilistics & lovely lettering

Featured Replies

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform


I like this sign in Lowell, Massachusetts. It's hand-lettered in the old-school way, with a relaxed grace that speaks of years of discipline.
I like the story it tells, too. I didn't know people could defend their views on such arcane matters as punctuation with physical force. Now that I know, the first person who looks at this handlettering and asks me what font it is will get a knuckle sandwich.

Ahem ... what font is that handlettering?

n.

I would like to know who won the fight. Old Bill is sly, if not underhanded, while at this point Jack was a corpulent momma's boys. So ... do you know who was defending the Oxford comma?

  • Author

I learned to use the Oxford comma (or the serial comma, as I was taught) by Sister Agnes Virginia, who, with her trusty ruler, could have beat the crap out of Kerouac and Burroughs one at a time or both together.

RE: the Oxford comma -- sometimes it's absolutely necessary, as in

"We offer Corn Flakes, Cheerios, and Wheaties."

Ah, Catholic ...that explains everything.

n.

Well, of course Catholic! That always explains everything…

  • Author

John Waters (of Pink Flamingos fame) went to the same high school I did. Apparently it messed up his head even worse than it did mine.

RE: the Oxford comma -- sometimes it's absolutely necessary, as in

. . . this book dedication: “For my parents, God, and Ayn Rand.”

Goodness Kent, you must know some republicans...

I suppose it shouldn't be used for

"...tennis shoes, sandals and boots."

Charles — I got that example from my mother, who is a copyeditor. I don’t recall the book (if I even ever knew the title).

Nick — My biggest pet peeve about Truss’s book (that edition anyway) is that the text font, Quadraat, did not have kern pairs for comma/period and close quotes, in either order. These pairs appear a lot in the text, with distracting holes. “The Zero Kern Approach to Punctuation”!

Create an account or sign in to comment

Important Information

We are placing functional cookies on your device to help make this website better.

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.