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Cutting a Dash (Eats, Shoots & Leaves) (Radio Collection)
 
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Cutting a Dash (Eats, Shoots & Leaves) (Radio Collection) [Audiobook] (Audio CD)

by Lynne Truss (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

  • Audio CD
  • Publisher: BBC Audiobooks Ltd (5 April 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0563525029
  • ISBN-13: 978-0563525028
  • Product Dimensions: 14.1 x 12.6 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 328,825 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #25 in  Books > Humour > Encyclopaedias

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Product Description

Observer, 11th April 2004
In this neat compilation, Truss presents arguments for and against the different uses of punctuation in such a humorous way...

Product Description
The BBC Radio 4 series that inspired the bestselling book Eats, Shoots & Leaves. The runaway success of Eats, Shoots and Leaves brought millions of grammar geeks out of the closet and made it cool to care about punctuation. This is the radio series that started it all: five programmes in which Lynne Truss explores changing fashions in punctuation. She accompanies the founder of the Apostrophe Protection Society through Berwick Street Market on a hunt for the ?greengrocer?s apostrophe?, enters the classroom to hear how children learn punctuation, and finds out whether anyone punctuates text messages. Talking to writers and experts like Fay Weldon and David Crystal, she discovers the origins of the comma in Greek drama and Gregorian chant, considers the case for ?semicolonic irrigation? and asks how a writer?s choice of punctuation expresses his tone of voice. Looking into the future, she wonders if ?emoticons? will put colons, commas and apostrophes on the endangered species list. Impassioned, informative and always amusing, this is an essential listen for anyone who loves language.

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Cutting a Dash (Eats, Shoots & Leaves) (Radio Collection)
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121 of 123 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars People with a passion for punctuation, 29 Aug 2004
By Sally-Anne "mynameissally" (Leicestershire, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
There's one hour and ten minutes of chat about punctuation on this CD. It's a recording of five episodes of the BBC series "Cutting a Dash" that were broadcast between 3 December and 31 December 2002. The programme titles are: 1) The endangered apostrophe; 2) Changing gear, the comma; 3) And another thing - colons and semicolons; 4) Listen to me when I'm writing; 5) Punctuating the Future.

It's quite funny. I thought I was punctilious about punctuation but after listening to these sad fuss-pots, my own tendency to nit-pick seems mild. Lynne Truss begins her duties in the service of the 'punctuation police' outside a petrol station in Brighton. She says she's really upset by the sight of a sign advertising Video's, CD's, DVD's and Book's. All those superfluous apostrophes. Oh dear. How vexing! Then a man (poor, precious soul) tells us that he experiences physical pain when he sees apostrophes being used where they shouldn't or left out where they should. It's heart rending stuff. Most of these people seem to have a sense of humour about their obsession though. It was very touching to hear the excitement in their voices when Ms Truss and John Richards, founder of the Apostrophe Protection Society, discovered a greengrocer who had a good understanding of the use of apostrophes. Greengrocers are, apparently, extremely and worryingly ignorant about apostrophes, so finding one who wasn't, was a bit like finding a diamond in a slag heap. Comma criminals receive similarly harsh judgements from the punctuation puritans. The title of the book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves", that was inspired by this radio series, is meant to show how the sense of written language all hangs on its punctuation. It's a joke about the description of a panda. In a state of nature, they eat (bamboo) shoots and leaves, but in this joke, a panda goes into a restaurant, eats, shoots and leaves. You see? That extraneous comma made nonsense of a perfectly sensible statement about pandas. Everyone knows pandas have large, ungainly paws and couldn't possibly operate any conventional firearm. So now we understand why these poor, sensitive punctuation nuts take it all so seriously - and suffer physical pain when it ain't done right. They're not so scathing about the use or abuse of colons and semi-colons - regarding them as a more personal thing. That's a relief then.

I enjoyed listening to these harmless fanatics agonising about the indications of disease and noting signs of hope (computer spell-checkers and grammar checkers <shudder>) for punctuation. They may be petty and pedantic but the important thing is, they're entertaining. I recommend this audiobook.

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