national punctuation day :D

today, september 25, is national punctuation day - something i didn't know existed until i heard it mentioned on cbs radio this morning. this is the 7th anniversary, having been created in 2004 by jeff rubin - who took it upon himself to publicize the need for correct usage! just writing this post make me double back to check my own grammar and punctuation! while poor grammar and punctuation - two entirely separate things for the purests among you - are pet peeves of mine, one of my favorite authors had little use for either!

jack kerouac was, on a good day, considered a poor writer - if not an outright barbarian - because he ignored punctuation with impunity! that isn't to say he started out that way. his first novel, "the town and city," was a masterpiece of wolfian literature. he had to really work himself up to abandon the traditional writing style of his generation (especially punctuation) - to go on the road and create to new beat :D

i'm not exactly sure how one celebrates "punctuation" day. it's a generally a pretty smarmy business pointing out the mistakes of others (especially trite ones). so i guess it's one where we need to focus on self-editing :D still, a correctly placed comma can save a life - so if you see stuff like this: "let's eat grandma" - go out of your way to insert the lifesaving comma :O