One of the pleasures of being a punctuation nerd is discovering other punctuation nerds.

I use the word “nerds” not in a pejorative way, but as a badge of honor for those of us who look at the dots and commas and semicolons and exclamation points of the English language as a road map to literacy.

So it was with much glee that my friend Jackie Lapin, herself a bit of a punctuation geek (that’s a synonym for nerd), turned me on to an article written by Ellen Jovin, a self-described grammar nerd, whose op-ed in the August 12, 2022, edition of the Los Angeles Times, “How fighting over grammar can help fix a divided America,” brought many smiles to my face.

She had me hooked at her first paragraph:

“Four years ago I decided I needed to host a pop-up grammar-advice stand. The plan was simple: I‘d sit on the streets of New York City and help people with their questions. I ordered a folding table, drew a “Grammar Table“ sign and waited for the weather to cool. On a September day I walked to a small park near my apartment building, propped up my sign, and began answering questions from passersby.“

I emailed Ellen and told her I was the founder of National Punctuation Day — the 19th NPD is today, September 24. She confessed, “I have noticed it before, but I didn‘t have a reminder on my calendar. I do enjoy punctuating. In fact, I punctuate every single day!”

I wanted to reprint the entire op-ed here, but Ellen cautioned me by writing, “I believe the LA Times would not be okay with having the full story on someone else’s site, but you could certainly put a description or a quote and a link. Thank you for asking.”

I’ll do better than that; here’s the link to Ellen’s piece: https://www.latimes.com/.../story/2022-08-12/grammar-fight

Here’s one of my favorite passages:

“The Grammar Table is only partly about grammar. It is also about community, about surprise, about humor (yes indeed, ’poopyhead‘ is written as one word!). It is about the ritual of gentle, dorky debate with a shared sense of purpose, focused on this thing we have in common — language. We all poop and we all punctuate (though some of us do the latter on only a part-time basis). Besides, how mad can you really get over an Oxford comma (the comma before the ‘and’ in a list)? One man affected Hulk-like rage over it, but he left smiling with his brother so they could pick up their sister from the airport.”

(NOTE: I’ve been telling people for years that “poopyhead” is one word; maybe now people will believe me!)

As you may have guessed, the Grammar Table is too good a story for just one newspaper article.

Ellen’s husband filmed Grammar Table encounters for a documentary; they took the table on the road, and by the time the pandemic hit, the table had visited 47 states.

And, yes, Ellen has written a book, “Rebel With a Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian.” @grammartable.

Can’t wait to read it.

HAPPY NATIONAL PUNCTUATION DAY!

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Great punctuation video
from WABI-TV in Bangor, ME

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Past radio coverage of
National Punctuation Day®

Missouri State Teachers Association: Why Punctuation? Guest column by Jeff Rubin, founder of National Punctuation Day

The Destin Log: A punctilious punctuator’s pet peeves

USA TODAY: Contest: Do you know your punctuation?

San Francisco Chronicle: Punctuation Paragraph Contest Highlights 8th Annual National Punctuation Day, Sept. 24

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Happy National Punctuation Day! Now use it correctly

Baltimore Sun: On George Clooney and apostrophes

Charlotte Observer.com—The Reading Life blog: Punctuation geeks: A contest just for you

North County Times (CA): HUNNEMAN: Hyping the hyphen

Detroit News: Watch the punctuation: Its role in financial documents is crucial

Florida Times-Union: “Punctuation, (is) our; friend!”

Dubuque (IA) Telegraph-Herald: Editor’s notes: TH readers try to punctuate their way to glory

Omaha World Herald: So you know

Wilkes-Barre (PA) Times-Leader: Punctuation a thing of the past?

Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin: Prepare your pet peeves. Punctuation Day is fast approaching (first column, September 14)

Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin: I’m Just Sayin’: Today’s the day for perfect punctuation (second column, September 24)

Beverly in Movieland: Punctilious about Punctuation

New Jersey Today: Contest Highlights 8th Annual National Punctuation Day, Sept. 24 Saturday, September 24, 2011

Spokane (WA) Spokesman-Review Today is National Punctuation Day

Pinole Patch: Write a Paragraph for National Punctuation Day

El Cerrito Patch: A Day To Show Some Love for Punctuation

Association Media & Publishing: It’s Cool to be a Comma

The Writing Resource: Celebrate National Punctuation Day

Center for Writing Excellence: Call me a nerd, but . . .

American Copy Editors Society: Celebrating the comma, partying with parentheses

Chicago Reader: Chicago’s contribution to National Punctuation Day

Chicago Reader: Cats, Chicagoan claim quotation, comma contest

Ben G’s video salute to NPD: September 24th is National Punctuation Day!

Headbloom Blog: The Apoplectic Apostrophe

Grumbling & Gratitude: “HAPPY” NATIONAL PUNCTUATION ... DAY!

Daily Writing Tips: 10 Websites and Blogs of Punctuation Protectors

Wordnik: Punctuation Rules!

TeleRead: National Punctuation Day is September 24

Punctuation rap song: Dots N Dashes

You Tube: Punctuation songs and videos

Cybrary Man: Cybrary Man’s Educational Web Sites

Arlington Now: Arlington Resident a National Punctuation Day Winner

Arlington Sun-Gazette: Arlingtonian Among Tops in U.S. in Creative Use of Punctuation

Canton Repository: Punctuation contest brings out the best

PUNCTUATION PROGRAM IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS®

In 2006, National Punctuation Day® founder Jeff Rubin and his wife, Norma, began performing Punctuation Playtime® assemblies in elementary schools. Punctuation Playtime® has been performed nearly 75 times in schools from California to Chicago to New York.

Punctuation Playtime® is a 45-minute program for children in grades K-6. Punctuation Playtime® features games, activities, and storytelling—even a rap song—to reinforce important punctuation lessons in an effort to enhance children’s reading, writing, and communication skills.

On October 21, 22, and 23, 2009, Jeff and Norma brought Punctuation Playtime® to the Westfield Fox Hills Shopping Center in Culver City, CA, to help the center inaugurate a new installation inside the mall called Punctuation Station. Jeff and Norma did three performances each day.

Teachers love the program and how Jeff and Norma interact with the children.

“Your program completely supports our curriculum content,” said Sally Feldman, a teacher at Washington Elementary School, in Point Richmond, CA. “You have wrapped up the best in teaching to bring to our students. I love the fact that you are not afraid to teach young children great skills!”

“That’s a typical comment we get from teachers after a program,” says Jeff, who works during the day as The Newsletter Guy, writing company newsletters for corporate customers out of his office in Pinole, CA.

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Punctuation Playtime® performs
at Los Angeles-area shopping center

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PUNCTUATION PLAYTIME®
TRAINING VIDEO®

Jeff and Norma have also produced a 30-minute instructional DVD that trains teachers how to facilitate Punctuation Playtime® in their schools. They also conduct 90-minute workshops for elementary-school teachers on how to teach punctuation to children in a fun and engaging way.

Visit the NPD website regularly at www.NationalPunctuationDay.com for updates and new photos. And check the Punctuation Playtime® website at www.PunctuationPlaytime.com for information about bringing our program to your school.