Saturday, June 6, 2015

Where Has All The Punctuation Gone?

The sun has finally broken through the clouds and we have had our first day without rain in what seems like months. The day started out sunny yesterday, so I decided to change bed linen and hang it on the line along with work clothes and towels.

Thank goodness I was taking the stuff in as soon as it was dry. As I was hanging the last load, the sun still shown bright and clear. I thought I felt a drop, just a small drop of rain, I looked up, squinting and saw nary a cloud in the sky. Suddenly I heard rain drops, really big rain drops assaulting the mulberry tree in my back yard. It lasted long enough for me to quickly take the clothes down and get them in the dryer. Then it stopped. It left everything sort of steamy.

I retreated to my desk and checked the e-mail for the kampground. If someone makes a reservation on the reservation site, it comes directly to my personal e-mail account. However, people will leave e-mails on the kampgound account. Since there is no form for them to follow, it gets interesting .........

"do I need to call first or just show up" No punctuation, I assume this is a question. I answer, "It depend on when you are planning to camp, and what kind of camping you do (tent or RV). Should you want to make a reservation, there is a page to refer to on the website, or you can call me." I add the number for his convenience.

My current favorite is the run on sentence from the woman who thinks it would be uplifting (my word, not hers) to take her brother camping, as he just lost his child. But what she really wants to know is if she will be required to pay for her youngest child, since "I alone have three children, my boyfriend and myself ". She goes on to say that she wants to camp with her boyfriend and her three children and her brother and his family with "three children under 11 to 16" and her cousin and her other cousin and their families .... a total of 20 people "if my brother decides to come and I hope he does but it will be 20 people if he does or if he doesn't and do you have a place to fish because this is very important to her Father and will my cousin have to pay for her children under the age of three"

Confused? I answered as simply as I could and quoted rates and explained that they would not all fit on one tent site, but that I have a double site that could accommodate them and encouraged her to CALL me with any more questions. "I need to know all this as soon as you can let me know because we want to come in two weeks"

Seems no one is a fond of punctuation. I answered them in a timely manner and have had no response. This is my life. Yippee.

4 comments:

Val said...

I agree with you on punctuation, but I, myself, find run-on sentences to be soothing and therapeutic. Here's the most recent thorn in my side: people who use the wrong (heh, heh, I just typed "wronk") spelling because they have no idea what they're trying to say. For example, to type up a statement, and then at the end say, "Psych!" Except they write it as, "Sike!" Seriously? SIKE? They might as well profess that something is "Icy on the cake."

Whew! Don't know about you, but I feel better now.

luksky said...

I have found with the popularity of texting and typing on a cell phone people have decided to forego the use of punctuation...for whatever reason. It drives me nuts, but hey, I guess I'm a little "old school".

Anonymous said...

Spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure all seem to have disappeared.

As for that gosh-awful email, I work the phones at our local historical society for one week during the fall. It is the week leading up to one of the big events in our community--Civil War Revisited. I get similar requests and questions and no matter how many times I review the facts, the person on the other end of the line wants it to be their way. Everyone has a story and wants accommodations just for them.

Anonymous said...

Spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure all seem to have disappeared.

As for that gosh-awful email, I work the phones at our local historical society for one week during the fall. It is the week leading up to one of the big events in our community--Civil War Revisited. I get similar requests and questions and no matter how many times I review the facts, the person on the other end of the line wants it to be their way. Everyone has a story and wants accommodations just for them.