Re: Menard's review of Truss (was RE: How to Use English Punctuation Correctly - wikiHow)

["Susan W Gallagher" <susanwg -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Disclaimer: I've read all of the book, but only skimmed the review. That
said, I thought the book an entertaining afternoon's read. You won't find
grammatical enlightenment there by any means, but what you will find is a
light and often humerous look at grammar as it's commonly used, greengrocer
appostrophes and all.

As to "translating" the book (I guess he meant localizing, huh?), I hardly
think that's significant. Yes, there are differences in British and American
English -- don't we all understand them by now? And in today's shrinking
world where many of us write for global markets, the distinction between the
two dialects becomes less and less important. Perhaps we should just pick
the best from each and run with it, because I believe that eventually the
differences will disappear. I, for one, don't have any problems mixing
British-style quotation marks with American spelling - sometimes it just
makes sense. And when my audience mixes equal parts of Americans, Brits, and
Japanese, who's to say I'm wrong?

MOO, YMMV,
-Sue Gallagher


On 7/12/07, Combs, Richard <richard -dot- combs -at- polycom -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Janice Gelb wrote:
>
> > For a negative review of this book by Louis Menard that
> > points out several flaws, see
> > http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/06/28/040628crbo_books1
>
> I don't have my copy of Truss at hand, but I don't think Menard's
> criticisms are entirely fair. I'm pretty certain, for example, that
> Truss used "printers' marks" quite correctly, as the context involved
> plural printers. His example of parentheses used wrongly strikes me as a
> very effective sentence.
>
> Menard said Truss deployed commas "as the mood strikes." He apparently
> keeps his in a salt shaker, and deploys them with abandon. I thought at
> first he was overusing commas as a kind of running gag.
>
> And is this really a book review? It starts out as nitpicky criticism,
> spends just a bit of time discussing the message and purpose of the book
> (making some good points in the process), and then veers off into an
> extended discussion of voice -- a complete non sequitur -- from which it
> never returns.
>
> I think Lauren's on to something -- Menard's primary purpose was to
> punish Truss for daring to speak disrespectfully of The New Yorker. The
> rest was just to hit the word count target.
>
> That said, it was an entertaining read that made some very good points.
>
> By the way, the same is true of _Eats, Shoots & Leaves_.
>
> Richard
>
>
> ------
> Richard G. Combs
> Senior Technical Writer
> Polycom, Inc.
> richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
> 303-223-5111
> ------
> rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
> 303-777-0436
> ------
>
>
>
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