Indeed, in her chapter on the comma, Truss even quotes Scripture to make the point. That aside, the point of the joke is obvious: poorly punctuated sentences can lead to hilarious, but sometimes also to dire, confusion. The British tend to leave it out (as in this book’s title). Now, it must be noted, I punctuated that joke in the American fashion that includes a comma (technically known as either the “Oxford comma” or the “serial comma”) prior to the final “and” in a serial list. Turning to the entry for “panda,” they read, “Panda: large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. He hands them a (poorly punctuated) dictionary and encourages them to look it up for themselves. Bewildered, the customers ask the restaurant manager what is going on. Upon finishing his meal, the panda stands up, pulls out a pistol, fires several shots into the back wall of the restaurant, and then walks out. The book’s title comes from a joke: A panda walks into a restaurant and orders some food. In her surprise bestseller Eats, Shoots and Leaves, British author Truss launches a frontal assault on the English world’s increasing sloppiness when it comes to precision of linguistic expression. According to a well-known Puritan adage from Joseph Hall, “God loveth adverbs and cares not how good, but how well.” It may well be true that the Almighty loves adverbs, but if Lynne Truss is to be believed, then God would have to be passionate also about proper punctuation.
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