Pausing to praise more than the simple period

After spending 40 years working in local media, most of them in newsrooms, you'd think I would either know all there is to know about punctuation or would be too tired at this point to care. 

However, because I remain a stickler for the proper use of commas, parentheses, semicolons — and don't forget long dashes — I enjoy reading fellow writers who take deep dives on the subject. 

Case in point is Louis Menard's terrific New Yorker article "The Last Word" (retitled with an SEO-smart headline — "The Curious Power of Punctuation" — online. 

Menard eloquently digs into examples of confusing punctuational in classic literacture; its ongoing change amid A1, smartphones and emojis; the merits of adverbs, or lack thereof; and whether there's hope for a future that preserves and respects punctuation. 

"The polite way to be rude now is to use correct punctuation," Florence Hazrat says in bemoaning the severe lack of punctuation in text messages. 

I agree, and I'm someone who understands communication forms change over time, often for the better (don't ask me about the arguments my Mom and I used to have over whether cursive writing should remained a relevant skill in the 21st century). 

Menard takes it all in stride, injecting great humor into the many debates that inflame a tiny minority of the population.