Discussions
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uplandpoet
This book inspired me. It inspired me that if I ever meet the author, I will shoot her, eat her and leave her skanky bones scattered abround the no good bookstore where she was reading. As a grammar challenged person, I bought this book with the idea that it might help. It turns out that would be like a selfhelp book for wheelchair bound folk to be nothing but cripple jokes. she is evil, heartless and nasty, punctuate that! Okay, maybe I wouldn't actually resort to murder and cannibalism, but not because she doesn't deserve it....
posted 5 years ago.
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Pat Matuszak
Loved the humor...and the punctuation stickers that came with the last edition I bought! I keep giving my copies away and buying new ones. British style is sometimes in conflict with AP style and other times contradicts CMS, but it's still a good read-- "sympathy for the devil" might be a theme! ;-)
posted 5 years ago.
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uplandpoet
i posted a few weeks ago the if i ever met the author, i would shoot her, eat her, and leave her bones on the ground, i despise her smug attitude. of course i would not really shoot, just would write her a long letter with all my bad grammar, jusgt to annoy her as much as she annoys me!!!!
posted 5 years ago.
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Pat Matuszak removed this reply 5 years ago
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Pat Matuszak
Well, of course, Uplandpoet can afford the luxury of ignoring CMS. Poets shouldn't bother with grammar! It's heaven to go tubing on a stream of consciousness.
However, some of us luckless drudges have to edit endless prose MS into understandable books, or clarify headlines or photo captions so anyone can understand them on the first skim. We need grammar, and God bless anyone who can find the humor in it once in a while.posted 5 years ago.
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uplandpoet
Actually, i became a poet at 6 yr of age to avoid punctuation:)
yeah, i have written a novel and had to pay good money to get it edited. my complaint, as i expressed to unfinished woman, is the way journalists will get the grammar right and totally screw the facts, even with a fact checker(also an English major, I'm sure:)...., a million becomes a billion pi becomes 7.643, New York is west of Chicago, you know exactly what i am talking about.... anyway, humor is a good thing, just wish folks would quit picking on us folks what caint write right....posted 5 years ago.
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HemingwayHeroine
I think it is important to be smug in regards to grammar. It is the driving force of our language. Without it, we are forced to make assumptions on meaning that might cause Pandas to eat, shoot, and leave. Take a look at her children's book, which is a simplified version of this one. Less smug and gets the point across. Grammar is important.
posted 5 years ago.
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uplandpoet
hemingway, the problem is that anyone who assumes the panda eats, shoots and leaves, either knows nothing of gins or they lack a basic understanding of pandas, sadly, too many of these folks end up writing copy. if the grammar looks right, they will asume a man to be six inches tall if some poor slob hit the shift key. any illiterate can tell you a man is not six inches tall, but the grammarians follow the punctuation, not common sense, that is why i get tired of someone being upset at beet's 2 for $1.00. is there any doubt of the meaning, no, the poor grocery just had to drop out of school to support his/her family. the rich kid who got a master's in English because he didn't have to work his way through school, so he can be a snob about it, even if the grocery was his poor dad working to put him through college. Let me say, my 21 yr old is a junior at U of Fl, majoring in English, and I am very proud of him. but i make sure he works his butt off during the summer to have a few bucks during the school year. i hope he never turns his well educated nose up at the scribblings of a hard working bluecollar person, if he ever does, i dont care how old he is, he will feel the back of my hand up side his noggin! by the way, i know i included a sentence fragment in the middle there, but i bet everyon e reading this got the drift well enough to either laugh, knowingly, or be offended, and as much as i enjoy my well educated friends, if it offended, maybe they ought to check their own sense of humor. i appreciate a good education, wish i hadnt been "too smart" for my professors thirty years ago, but sometimes, maybe too often, people get the sense educated right out of them, and i happen to think that is what eat shoot and leaves is all about. a snotty woman looking down on the good people who probably paid for her Bristish education with their tax dollars, if that be the case, shame on her and hand me the first stone!!!!
posted 5 years ago.
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HemingwayHeroine
Okay, I agree you need common sense. But it isn't always that easy. Seriously, pick up her kids book and you'll see. I actually liked it better than the adult one. I only gave this book 3 stars anyway. I thought it was funny, but it wasn't the best book on grammar I've ever owned. That was my Troyka, which I lost. =(
posted 5 years ago.
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sweetafton
Grammar and punctuation are important. Without them we would all be forced to read books like McCarthy's _The Road_. Once was enough torture, thank you very much. Truss manages to have a laugh about errant or altogether missing apostrophes. Amis is a bit more sly, and I wonder, uplandpoet, if you would have the same reaction to his book, _The King's English_. Is it just this one that gets your socks knotted, or do all punchy grammar texts do it?
posted 5 years ago.
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uplandpoet
dont know have tried the kings english, but i bought this thinking it would help, and all i got was spit on, so im spitting back, not very becoming in public, i told unfinished, in a private note, i was gonna back off, but cant seem to stop myself:) hope you dont find my book unreadable.... i worked on it and had Suzanne, my wife, the ex newspaper reporter work on it, then paid a professional to proof read it, so i am hoping it isnt too bad....
posted 5 years ago.
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uplandpoet
um, i am sorry about the gin - gun typo, hope yall figured it out, if you can shoot a gin, you gotta be a frat boy:)
posted 5 years ago.
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honey removed this reply 5 years ago
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claudia l
This writer has a great sense of humor. I am trying to concentrate on what she is saying and then realize I am trying too hard and should just relax and enjoy her style. I seem to be forgetting all the old punctuation rules and so this is a good way to see how off I am... or as she would say *off*, I am.
posted 5 years ago.
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Sandra G
That too! I like the style but I was trying to learn from it much too much to find it an enjoyable read. It does seem have a way of helping me remember the rules though.
posted 4 years ago.
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Jigsz NS
I also enjoyed reading this book and I agree with the author's points. It is helpful as well in my job as I do a lot of writing and editing.
posted 5 years ago.
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glenda
After reading this book, I went to my local QFC store and looked at the sign above the express line. Sure enough the sign says; 15 items or less. I smiled thinking about Ms. Truss and her book. The sign should be 15 items or fewer. She'd be happy to know, though that the sign was changed to fewer. Someone must have told the manager about it.
posted 5 years ago.
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Dana G
Glenda--WAY back when I was in high school, a friend and I wrote a letter to a local New England grocery chain to tell them their "12 items or less" signs were incorrect. They actually wrote us back thanking us for letting them know. Apparently, changing all of the signs in their chain was beyond their budget--BUT when they opened a new store on Cape Cod, they ordered correct signs and invited us to the grand opening with all of the Big Wigs. As high-schoolers in 1987, we felt pretty special!
Your comment about the QFC store brought that story back to my mind, so I just thought I'd share it.posted 5 years ago.
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uplandpoet
Have you been bombarded by complete strangers who wanted to know, after you have
written a review, and/or made comments expressing your opinion of a book,
whether they should read this book? And it isn't that they took the time to see
who you are, then ask in a note, no, they just spammed you and everyone else on
Shelfari who has said book on shelf. Does this irriate you? If so, you can do
something about it: you can contact either of the two Shelfari reps below, or
better yet, you can contact both of them and ask them to please remove the new
and annoying feature that allows this spamming!
http://www.shelfari.com/amanda
http://www.shelfari.com/timothygrayposted 5 years ago.
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I happen to enjoy the new feature and gladly respond to any request for info. In addition, I find it helpful to get some differing views on a book that I'm considering reading.
FYI...as far as I can tell there is no connection to the requests and having reviewed/commented on a book. All it takes is to have the book on your shelf.posted 5 years ago.
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uplandpoet
it is a great feature for people who cant read... oh, i forgot, they have to be able to read to act on our responses. if they are interested in a book, why not read comments and reviews here, why not browse the shelves of folks who have it, then maybe send a polite note directly to the person, this spamming of all those with it on their shelves, and come on, sure i can see someone my ask about this book, or david saderis, or robert parker, but i am get faulkner, shakespeare, to kill a mockingbird, and a hundred other no brainers, read the GD book, it didnt get to be the tale of two cities or huck finn by accident!!!!
glad you like it, do you like tv commercials, too?posted 5 years ago.
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Mary O
I loved this from A to Z. As a writer from the age of 4 and an English teacher for 6 years, I am amazed how hard some people find basic English. In my last job, we were constantly looking at sale signs and catching misplaced apostrophes, missing apostrophes, and comma splices. A must read for anyone who claims to know English.
posted 3 years ago.
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Eileen M
I would say this is more of a must-read for anyone who claims NOT to know English, as well as the beleaguered who already know what an apostrophe is for and feels its death agonies. This is a great, hilarious, curmudgeonly read.
posted 3 years ago.
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Eileen M
Hating on her why? I loved this book although I am not having nearly as much fun with the follow-up, "Talk To The Hand."
posted 3 years ago.
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uplandpoet
she is an ass who,plays to asses, she wouldnt know a well written book if she sat on it. it is all about the grammar police, not about improving clarity of communication, nor about appreciating the literary mind. may she die a slow and painful death, my hope is that she is eaten by a panda, or at least shot by one!!!!
if a sign that reads: turnip's $1.00 bothers her, i suggest she stay the hell out of the grovery store, if fact as that might lead to her early death by starvation, i strogly encourage it!
punctuation and grammar is an ever flowing, ever changing system, she is trying to impose her 'learned' perspective on a living thing, the language. the purpose of punctuation and grammar rules are to increase clarity and enrich the language, most of her examples have nothing to do with this, she is simply walking around, with her nose in the air, while hard working people are putting upsigns to conduct business, improve safety and generally make the world go round. her kind are a plague on the human race! now, do you want me to tell you how i really feel?posted 3 years ago.
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