Lynne Truss
Lynne Truss
Lynne Trussis an English writer and journalist. Her book Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation was a best-seller in 2003. In August 2014, Truss was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
arbitrary vapour way
The reason it's worth standing up for punctuation is not that it's an arbitrary system of notation known only to an over-sensitive elite who have attacks of the vapours when they see it misapplied. The reason to stand up for punctuation is that without it there is no reliable way of communicating meaning.
mean obvious
But, come on. Just because it's obvious doesn't mean it's not true.
bloody rudeness utter
the utter bloody rudeness of the world today.
atrocities biggest effect happiness life lurking people shoots unaware worst
In my worst moments, I think the biggest effect of 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves' was to kill the happiness of people who had previously skipped through life, unaware of all the atrocities lurking in the world around them.
black-and-white pandas bears
Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.
challenges world sad-person
My favorite thing in the world is a quiz show, 'University Challenge,' so you can see what kind of sad person I am.
hate eye people
I hate to be treated as if I'm invisible. I get incensed when people talk across me or refuse to catch my eye in a restaurant or shop.
giving people horror
I do needlepoint from kits. I give them as gifts to people in the form of cushion covers and they are often speechless with horror.
years important
I am not against marriage. I lived with someone for 11 years. But we weren't in love, and I thought that was quite important.
lovely saying-hello email
As with email, the recipient of a texted question seems to have the option to ignore it, while nevertheless saying, 'Hello, lovely day,' and so on.
jobs editing years
After university, I got a job sub-editing and for years I was a literary editor.
hands pessimism caution
Don't pessimism and caution naturally go hand in hand?
stories helping punctuation
Punctuation is a courtesy designed to help readers to understand a story without stumbling.
long texting messages
As someone who sends texts messages more or less non-stop, I enjoy one particular aspect of texting more than anything else: that it is possible to sit in a crowded railway carriage laboriously spelling out quite long words in full, and using an enormous amount of punctuation, without anyone being aware of how outrageously subversive I am being.