Horn Tooting Scale: 3 Toots of the Horn
- 1 for being British!
- 2nd for being educational
- 3rd for being amusing and educational
- The history of punctuation
- There are 17 ways to use a comma
- A great refresher on the use of the colon and semicolon
- The linguistic view of Webbish
- An homage to Aldus Manutius
This extremely charming book examines the history of punctuation and the extremes of behavior that people can be driven to in pursuit of perfection in its use. Each of the major marks gets a section - my personal favorite is the one for the exclamation point; famous wordsmiths are quoted; and the ancient and modern history use of punctuation is examined. I had no idea that modern punctuation was such a recent invention (Venice 15th c). I feel a little better about my reluctance to use the semicolon now that I know how young it is.
The main thing that makes this book a surprise success is that it is fun! I for one would never have thought that a book about punctuation, grammar and history could possibly be interesting as well as educational. Somehow, this book is. With her history as a (self-confessed) precocious brat, Ms. Truss has no trouble sticking her tongue in cheek and poking fun at her own urge to take a red pen to everyday life.
I highly recommend this book to everyone, and especially to young people. What a great birthday present for grandkids all across America.
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