Editorial: Periodic notation

In a time when there are more designations for causes and events than there are days in a year, it might seem reckless to single one out for commentary.

However, today’s notation holds a special place in our hearts; it’s National Punctuation Day.

No, it’s not an official government designation, although some might argue that it should be. A federally recognized National Punctuation Day might be marked by a mandatory one-hour primer on proper grammatical notation, broadcast on prime-time, pre-empting scheduled programming, just like a presidential address. In many ways, punctuation is at least as important.

We’re being hyperbolic, of course, but the gravity of punctuation in our language cannot be underestimated. A misplaced comma in a sentence has the potential to completely change the meaning of the information being conveyed, just as a misplaced decimal or comma in a numerical figure will change the value the digits express. If you think that’s not a serious matter, you’ve never gotten a telephone bill for 10 times the usual charge.

Examples of misused punctuation abound. You might see a door that reads, “Ladie’s Room,” or sale sign announcing, “Carrot’s — $1 a bunch.” You may find such glitches maddening. Then again, you may not notice.

Publications such as ours should know better — and we hope we do — yet punctuation errors find their way into our pages frequently, as they do in many other publications from newsletters to blogs to scholarly tomes. It’s a ceaseless struggle.

We salute National Punctuation Day, its founder, Jeff Rubin, whose efforts elevated the designation with inclusion in “Chase’s Calendar of Events” five years ago, and Lynne Truss, the British author whose bestselling grammar book, “Eats, Shoots and Leaves,” raised both awareness and hackles.