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Eats, Shoots & Leaves
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation | Lynne Truss
159 posts | 162 read | 6 reading | 95 to read
We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the internet, in email, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species. In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Lynne Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.
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tokorowilliamwallace
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#julyjam #jokeday Quite the shade being thrown at the startup tech boom industry here from a career journalist taking a stint job in one. Also, grammatical, punctuation, and language humor. Also, me posting a hopefuls stack, as if I can finish them!

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Good luck 👍🏻 📚 2y
Eggs You can do it👍🏼🤩🙌🏻 2y
20 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Daisey
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Pickpick

As an English teacher and someone fascinated by the way language changes over time, I truly enjoyed this entertaining and informative look at punctuation.

#nonfiction
May #DoubleSpin

LitStephanie My heart loves the idea of a zero tolerance approach to punctuation. 🤣 3y
kspenmoll Her books are great! 3y
Daisey @LitStephanie @kspenmoll It was interesting to compare a few differences between British & American punctuation rules, but overall I found it easy to follow and amusing. (edited) 3y
60 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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Daisey
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I always find it fascinating when my reading of one book coincides with or impacts my reading of another. I‘ve often compared the word choice of different Bible versions, but I‘ve never slowed down to analyze punctuation differences. These examples make some interesting points.

#BibleBuddyRead #PunctuationMatters

BookBabe Good point! Looks like a good read. Thanks for sharing! 🙌🏻 3y
38 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Daisey
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It‘s the last full week of school and I should absolutely be grading finals, but I‘m taking a short break to read in the hammock because I‘ve had almost no print reading time this week. I‘ve only finished the first full chapter of this, but I‘m amused and enjoying it.

#Nonfiction #TeachersOfLitsy

50 likes2 stack adds
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sarahbellum
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Mehso-so

Finished my first Feb #roll100! Needed something light and short: work this week was 😫
I agreed with some of the sentiment here, but thought Truss repeatedly calling people who make grammatical mistakes “illiterate” a bit much. As an American, some references didn‘t land and some rules here are different.
Enjoyed the historical bits and discovering the pictured reference to Chekhov‘s parody of A Xmas Carol, which I‘ll now be reading in Dec!

PuddleJumper That's great! Well done! 3y
36 likes2 comments
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sarahbellum
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My latest #librarystack!

Bailed on Then We Came to the End and moving on to Eats, Shoots and Leaves for #roll100

Over 25% in to Ivanhoe and liking it more than I thought I would (also for #roll100)

The Assistant & Princess Bride are for #bookspin, Ficciones is for #foodandlit (my first time participating!)

The Help is my #doublespin from Jan and I‘ll try to get to it this month, but kinda doubting I will. Spoiled for reading choices!

TheAromaofBooks Eats, Shoots and Leaves is goofy, but speaks to my heart 😂 Princess Bride is one of the few situations where I actually love the movie more, but there is a lot more story in the book, so it's fun to read as well. I think the movie did such an amazing job capturing the essence of the story and translating it to the screen, which almost never happens. I read ch7 of Ivanhoe yesterday... finally at the tournament! 3y
wanderinglynn Great haul! Ivanhoe is on my TBR. @TheAromaofBooks I also enjoyed Eat, Shoots and Leaves because I‘m a grammar nerd at heart. 🤓 And I agree with you on The Princess Bride. 3y
sarahbellum @TheAromaofBooks @wanderinglynn I‘m looking forward to a goofy palate cleanser for my inner grammar nerd after a string of not so great books. I‘ve heard similar about Princess Bride from many others. I don‘t remember much about the movie, so I‘ll be going in a little blind. Ivanhoe definitely picks up at the tournament! 3y
43 likes3 comments
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Libby1
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SING FOR ME!!!

I feel like the Phantom of the Opera shouting at Christine when he‘s taken her to his underground lair.

Oryx Took me a moment to see this. I thought maybe you just really liked champ for a second 🎶🎵 3y
Libby1 @Oryx - maybe it was intentional? 😊 3y
48 likes2 comments
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shadowspeak17
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#Bookmail today! My aunt sent me some of my grandma‘s old books.

#catsoflitsy #Ember

Texreader Yay!! Score! 4y
Erinsuereads I lovvvve the transitive vampire! 4y
40 likes2 comments
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ctboeheim
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Pickpick

This is entertaining, didactic, funny, snobbish, elitist, and workman-like. Lynne takes us through the history and usage (and mis-usage — oh, the mis-usages!) of punctuation. Great for writers and for anyone who can remember typing period - backspace - apostrophe to get an exclamation point on an old typewriter. “Sticklers unite, you have nothing to lose but your sense of proportion, and arguably you didn‘t have a lot of that to begin with.“

8 likes1 stack add
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Clwojick
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Man oh man, has this been a productive weekend! I managed to knock off a ton of books, and check off some more challenges. I hope everyone had a great weekend, and enjoyed whatever they read. 🥱 I‘m heading to bed to cozy up with this book before I head to sleep. I‘ve got another early morning shift tomorrow 😴

I‘ll give my final #24B4Monday reading stats and my week 1 #MidyearRush updates tomorrow at some point. Happy Sunday!

sisilia That‘s an amazing reading log ! 4y
TheAromaofBooks Oh my gosh, I love that book! 4y
Andrew65 Love the nails! Oh and the reading log. 🤣 4y
91 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Bookishlie
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Thought you would enjoy this. Came across my Facebook feed.

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MrBook
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3/4 😂😂😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 🥃 #LitsyHumor 🥃

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 🤣🤣🤣 5y
Tripex 😂😂😂 5y
wanderinglynn 😂😂😂 5y
92 likes3 comments
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Betterthanasharpstickintheeye
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“While other girls were out with boyfriends on Sunday afternoons, getting their necks disfigured by love bites...”

“When other girls of my age were attending the Isle of Wight Festival and having abortions...”

The older I get the more I hate statements like these. It made me want to throw the book. I get she‘s trying to make a point and be funny but it comes off really poorly.

9 likes1 stack add
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MrBook
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😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 #LitsyHumor

thegirlwiththelibrarybag 😂😂😂 5y
74 likes1 comment
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TheAromaofBooks
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Pickpick

The author tells you in the beginning whether or not this book is for you by telling you of a sign on a shop near her house that says, “Come inside for CD's, VIDEO's, DVD's, and BOOK's.“ As Truss says, “If this satanic sprinkling of redundant apostrophes causes no little gasp of horror or quickening of the pulse, you should probably put down this book at once.“

A delightful reread for the #24b4Monday readathon, bringing me to 6hrs 45mins -

TheAromaofBooks - pretty solid for a very busy weekend! It was interesting to track my reading time, something I've never tried before. 5y
rretzler I enjoyed this one as well! 5y
MemoirsForMe 😁😁😁 I may need to reread this! 5y
TheAromaofBooks @UwannaPublishme @rretzler - I had forgotten how funny this book is. It's a soothing read for someone passionate about misplaced apostrophes! 5y
19 likes4 comments
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TheAromaofBooks
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I've never tried a readathon before, so I thought I would give this one a whirl!! I don't know how much time I'll have to just sit and read, so I'm setting 24 hours as my goal and I will see what happens. I'll post my proposed stack tomorrow, but I know that the tagged book will be in it!!

@TheReadingMermaid @Andrew65 @jb72 #24B4Monday

jb72 Awesome! So glad to have you join us. 5y
Andrew65 Great to have you with us. Have fun. 😊👍 5y
TheAromaofBooks @jb72 @Andrew 65 - thanks!! I'm really enjoying finding fun activities on Litsy. :-) 5y
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KarenUK
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#LilithJuly #myfavoritemistake
This prompt made me think of grammatical mistakes, and this book & Oxford comma joke.... maybe because I make so many! 😂🤦‍♀️
This book is really fun.... 💕

Cinfhen Ha!!! I need this book, big time!!!! My grammar and spelling is atrocious 😜 5y
CarolynM I loved this book, it's so funny as well as instructive. 5y
Tex2Flo I live for the Oxford comma! (My colleagues hate me, but I‘m obsessed.) 5y
50 likes3 comments
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Exbrarian
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😂

sudi 😂😂😂 5y
46 likes1 stack add2 comments
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jdgilbert41

“If this satanic sprinkling of redundant apostrophes causes no little gasp of horror or quickening if the pulse, you should probably put down this book at once.”

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jdgilbert41
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I‘m geeking out! 🤓 I‘m so excited to read this!

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RaimeyGallant
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Pickpick

I expected dry, headache-inducing chapters about punctuation. Instead, I got a quick, hilarious read in which the punctuation lessons are leavened with wit, and the history of punctuation, cherry-picked for its quirkiest moments. If you're behind on your reading goals for this year, this book is 200 pages. The author, as shown above on her book jacket, is defacing property, because the movie "Two Weeks Notice" is missing an apostrophe—the horror!

mkinney10 This was a required book for my English 101 class and I absolutely loved it! Still memorable 14 years later (eek!) 6y
tournevis I've bought this for so many Anglophones! 6y
CarolynM Love this book, it's hilarious💖 6y
Deborah42 Loved it! I never expected a book about punctuation to be so supremely entertaining. 6y
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RaimeyGallant
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The magic that happens with edited punctuation!

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

RinaBrahmbhattBarot Spot on :) 6y
Moony Wonderful picture ♡ 6y
readordierachel LOVE this 6y
AutumnRLS Great book! 6y
186 likes3 stack adds5 comments
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Martyn_J_Pass
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Thank you spell checker - the word ‘unputdownable‘ is an unpardonable use of the English language lol.
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#writer #author #martynjpass #romance #book

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BookNerd9906
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Jennick2004 🤣🤣 6y
vkois88 Cute! 6y
46 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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MrBook
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😂😂😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 #LitsyHumor

julesG 😂😂😂😂 6y
WorldsOkayestStepMom 😂😂😂😂😂😂 6y
See All 7 Comments
LiteraryinPA 🤣🤣🤣 6y
Megara @TheBookDream 😂😂 The Oxford comma needs to be revived from its coma. 6y
129 likes7 comments
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sophierayton
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Pickpick

Fun and informative. Living in a grammar-free world would be much less stress, but since grammar seems to be here to stay, we should probably try to use it properly. I think grammar-nazis are terrible though, and they should be more kind and understanding of people who don't know better. All communication is valid.

12 likes1 stack add
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GlassAsDiamonds
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Sign I‘m passing at the moment .... anyone want to start with the red pen of grammar Damocles? 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

CarolynM 😂😂 6y
MayJasper Lost in translation⁉️ 6y
AlaMich 😳🤣 6y
BiblioLitten 🙋🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ 😁 6y
21 likes5 comments
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SiriGuruDevSingh
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Pickpick

😂❤️❤️❤️

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Becker
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Who knew punctuation could be so fun?

13 likes1 stack add
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DreesReads
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Fresh Oyster‘s—fresh oysters what?! This same menu also said ‘fish and chips‘. Yes, I‘m single quotes. It was actual fish, not vegan fish. We debated why the quotes were there and ordered other things.

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SleepyDragon
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Book: tagged
Author: e. e cummings
Movie: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Food: egg foo yung

#manicmonday @JoScho

JoScho Thanks for playing ❤️ 6y
7 likes1 comment
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reiko
Pickpick

Actually very entertaining. A book about punctuation.

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MrBook
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After recently finishing "Life of Pi", this hits home. ? ?#LitsyHumor

ephemeralwaltz 😂😂😂😂 7y
Craftylikefox 😂😂😂😂 7y
Ddzmini Oh okay if your a savage 👀😳🤢🤮 7y
102 likes1 stack add4 comments
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MrBook
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Because Littens will call you out on it! 😂👏🏻🙌🏻 #LitsyHumor

GripLitGrl 😄😄😄 7y
Ddzmini 😝🤣 7y
120 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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LauraBeth
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I did a double-take when I read this. This should say “98 live baby SHARKS...” Missing words matter! 😂 #grammarpoliceonduty

pilardib 😂 7y
AvidReaderandGeekGirl I'm guessing they meant baby sharks not baby humans lol 7y
LeahBergen That‘s exactly what I thought when I first read it! 😂😂 7y
See All 21 Comments
MicheleinPhilly Considering it‘s the NY Post I‘m surprised they didn‘t find a way to blame Planned Parenthood or Democrats with that headline. 7y
rubyslippersreads 😱🦈 7y
JSW This is one for @MrBook !! 🤭😂😂😂 7y
OrangeMooseReads 😂🤣 I was a bit confused at first 7y
Redwritinghood Well . . . It‘s the New York Post. 7y
AmyG 😬😬😬 7y
Karkar Omg I about died until I saw it was Sharks 🦈 and not humans 7y
MrBook 😂😂😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 7y
LauraBeth @MicheleinPhilly I remember that right after I had moved to NYC, and before I knew about the Post‘s right-wing-bias, I bought a copy and brought it to work and EVERYONE in the office was disgusted and chastised me for reading “that rag!” 😂 7y
LauraBeth @AvidReaderandGeekGirl I think so! 😂 7y
LauraBeth @LeahBergen LIVE BABIES! 🙀🙀 7y
LauraBeth @pilardib, @rubyslippersreads, @JSW, @AmyG, @Karkar, @MrBook They‘ve corrected the headline! 😂 7y
Chrys 😂 Where was the editor? 7y
minkyb ewwww... 7y
RohitSawant 😂😂 7y
Suet624 Good lord. I just finished a book about a doctor who saves refugees as they try to make it across the ocean to his island. Many die. This headline seemed totally plausible when I saw it. 7y
97 likes21 comments
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Libby1
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I was recently at our local museum and chuckled at this description!

61 likes2 comments
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CrowCAH
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ValerieAndBooks I got quotation marks! And have read this book rec a few times already 👏🙌! “We quote to adequately depict our innermost thoughts that we may not be able to verbalize. You're a reflective and gentle soul who enjoys curling up with a good book. Read Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, a disturbing and fascinating tale.”

7y
CrowCAH @ValerieAndBooks “That‘s great” 😉 Haven‘t read Dorian Gray yet, but would love to read that modern classic!!! 7y
Amabear I got this too!!! 7y
See All 6 Comments
CrowCAH @Amabear yes, we are amazing! 😊 7y
Amabear @CrowCAH Iv been stalking your page 😂 we should be friends. So much in common! 7y
CrowCAH @Amabear no problem for the stalking! Love it! Of course we‘re Litsy friends now!!! 7y
54 likes1 stack add6 comments
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Libby1
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🤣🤣🤣

Love that Oxford comma.

Sorry the whole meme wouldn‘t fit in the photo edit.

SilversReviews I always use it. :) 7y
Betty Ah, now I understand the Oxford comma. 7y
PenguinInFlight Haha! This is one of my favorite grammar memes. I am most definitely an Oxford Comma advocate. 🙌🏻 7y
See All 7 Comments
Eggs Hail to Oxford Comma 🤗 7y
LeahBergen 😂😂 7y
Libby1 @SilversReviews , @Betty , @PenguinInFlight , @OrangeMooseReads , @Eggs , @LeahBergen - people tend not to use it where I live but I love it! 7y
80 likes7 comments
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bibliobliss
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• well, now I know: I‘m a COMMA!!! 😉 •

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/what-punctuation-mark-are-you/

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thecurlybookworm
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#riotgrams Day 11: punctuation

This prompt was so difficult! Most of the punctuation in my shelf is apostrophes—was glad to also find a hyphen, an exclamation mark, a comma, & an ampersand. Eats, Shoots & Leaves is one of my favorite books :D

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CatchMyBookBreath
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Pickpick

#riotgrams theme today is #punctuation . Time for comma wars! Starlord and Gamora will fight it out for us. I am forever on #teamoxfordcomma !😀

tpixie #TeamOxfordComma me too! I just listened today to an episode on the Annotated podcast in which they discussed the Oxford comma. (edited) 7y
36 likes1 comment
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Lcsmcat
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My favorite book on #punctuation, and probably the most-used for this prompt! #riotgrams @Liberty

72 likes2 stack adds
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CarolynM
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#riotgrams #punctuation

Both funny and serious. Indispensable!

40 likes2 stack adds
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KerriNTurner
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Some writerly books I recently picked up...

CarolynM Love Eats, Shoots and Leaves. It's hilarious as well as making some good points 7y
17 likes1 comment
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littlelibrarian
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This sign reminded me of one of my favorite reads. I love to laugh out loud about grammar and punctuation.

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MrBook
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Hat tip @Kappadeemom for this beauty! I guess eating kids is healthier than eating laundry pods? Taste like chicken? 🤔 😆 #LitsyHumor

ItsAngel 😂 7y
IamIamIam 🤤🤤🤤🤤🍖 7y
Bookworm-Bobbie 😂😂 7y
See All 10 Comments
Andrew65 Why would you eat laundry pods!!! 😱😳😂 7y
AmyG @Andrew65 Right? Even by mistake. Who DOES this? 7y
HotMessJess Wow, what a time to be alive. 7y
Mdargusch Now because of those pod eaters they have an almost impossible to open bag! 🤬 7y
Megara 😂 7y
Megara @MrBook do you mind sending me more info about the 2018 book expo pretty please? 😊 7y
LauraBeth Clearly the person who wrote this headline was a pod eater. 7y
110 likes1 stack add10 comments
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jkimexploring
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Mehso-so

The longer this took me to get through the less I enjoyed it. In general it was just meh. I was so excited to read a book that sings to the nerdy grammar lover part of me and with the dry British humor? Even better. Then it just fell flat.

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ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled
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Gift from a friend who knows me well

TrishB Love it ❤️ 7y
Tamra Bahahahaha 7y
scripturient Awesome!! 😂 7y
See All 9 Comments
dariazeoli Excellent! Ross from Friends would also appreciate this 😂 7y
Cinfhen Hilarious 😂😂 7y
RiotMom Omg 😂😂😂 7y
BookNAround That is awesome! 7y
drokka I had to read it twice to 'get' that it's an 'on purpose' 😂 7y
54 likes1 stack add9 comments