Why punctuation matters.

[Angilion]

I think that Lynne Truss expresses the reason in a particularly eloquent way:

We have a language that is full of ambiguities; we have a way of expressing ourselves that is often complex and allusive, poetic and modulated; all our thoughts can be rendered with absolute clarity if we bother to put the right dots and squiggles between the words in the right places. Proper punctuation is both the sign and the cause of clear thinking. If it goes, the degree of intellectual impoverishment we face is unimaginable.

It gets on my nerves when the moderate position (i.e. a preference for at least vaguely accurate language, with very good reason) is referred to as being akin to Nazism.

 

[Angilion]

Well that makes sense really, as spelling isn't the same as grammar. If you correct someones spelling then you should expect to be called a "spelling" Nazi.

I would be surprised if someone who called someone else a grammar Nazi is educated enough to know the difference between spelling and grammar.

 

[Angilion]

That just hurts my head

A . means multiply damn it!

Since when?

The sentence is straightforward enough and the lawyer who misread it made a bad mistake.

It's one of the simplest uses of a comma - text within two commas as additional information that can be removed without affecting the meaning of the sentence.

 

[Angilion]

Since the dawn of time.

If that was the case, then 31.10 = 310 and 26.45 = 1170

I must have been living out of time.