I’m taking the name of this blog entry from a chapter found in Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. In that chapter she talks about how she had an inane penpal, and how she totally tried to unglue her by replying, and using a semicolon in her response. I totally laughed out loud upon reading the anecdote, mostly because it’s such a bitchy punctuation freak thing to do. Who writes with semicolons when they’re in their early teens? Hilarious stuff.
I kind of have to admit, after reading the chapter, I became more conscious about using the semicolon: in fact, I’m making efforts to use it where appropriate. Thing is, I think I have this fear of using it incorrectly or seeming pretentious. Before reading the book, I would occasionally toss in a semicolon into emails of MSN chats just for the heck of using one. However, whenever I did, I would sit there looking over the sentence several times over before hitting “Send.” I was a bit paralyzed, wondering, man, I wonder if that’s right. After sending the message, I would fear that the receiver would think of me, being all “what the hell are you going formal on me for?” Again, who the hell writes with semicolons anymore?
Well, the book has given me a little more courage. I’d caring less whether the usage is right. If I think it’s right, it’s probably right. Strangely enough, whenever I use it, I get all tingly and get a feeling similar to what Lynne has have felt when whe wrote that letter to her penpal. Let me ask, is that so wrong?
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