Punctuation For The Internet

A History of Punctuation for the Internet Age

Adrienne Raphel | December 10, 2015

People don’t know why they get so upset about language,” David Crystal told me recently, over Skype from his home in Wales. “ ‘Potato’s,’ with an apostrophe ‘S,’ ” he offered, as an example of the kind of thing that drives some people batty, “but you ask them, ‘Why are you so upset?’, and they can’t answer you.” Crystal is an independent linguist and the author, co-author, or editor of more than a hundred books about language. His newest book, “Making a Point: The Persnickety Story of English Punctuation,” takes for granted that we all have anxiety—and, therefore, curiosity—about punctuation. His response to this anxiety is to explain calmly but firmly how punctuation rules came to be.

John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!! Published April 22, 2013 Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmvOgW6iV2s

<more at http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/a-history-of-punctuation-for-the-internet-age; related links: http://www.englishbaby.com/lessons/4081/member_submitted/internet_punctuation_(ebaby,_facebook,_myspace) (Internet Punctuation (ebaby, facebook, myspace). November 11, 2007) and https://blog.kaspersky.com/cyber-slang-peculiarities/10079/ (+Video) (The secret life of punctuation marks in the era of Internet. October 2, 2015)>