Every time I hear the song Don’t Speak by No Doubt I think of the importance of punctuation. Specifically, take this line:
Don’t tell me cause it hurts
The meaning is actually ambiguous in my mind without some punctuation.
Consider it a rebuttal to some previous comment:
Don’t tell me “cause it hurts”
Or what about if it was actually an order:
Don’t; tell me: “cause it hurts”
Or maybe it is being spoken by someone who is a bit masochistic:
Don’t. Tell me cause it hurts
And yes, these are the things I think about when I’m at the gym and this song comes on :)
Digital Ramblings 
I have a feeling that’s the expected reading of it based on the rest of the lyrics. I always seem to hear it ‘Don’t tell me “cause it hurts”‘ and picture some irate woman yelling at her man about some small pain when she’s just recently delivered a baby. :)
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I almost feel like I should give you a THANKS award for this posting!
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Re: I almost feel like I should give you a THANKS award for this posting!
[laugh] Thanks, but I’ve been maxed out since June! The real question is if my posting will get mentioned in your blog ;)
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Casey, somewhere in you is a full blown writer geek. That’s the only explanation.
I always knew I liked you! :-D
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Or how about an impatient patient, demanding the doctor skip the diagnosis and go straight to the morphine:
“Don’t tell me cause! IT HURTS!”
Related book about which I’ve heard good things:
http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Commas-Difference/dp/0399244913
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Panda opens fire while dining, then departs.
Assuming you haven’t already read it, you should definitely put _Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation_ by Lynne Truss on your holiday wish list. :) Based on this post alone, I am sure you would adore it. There’s a bit at the beginning where it shows how to transform the same example text from a love letter to a hate letter with just punctuation changes that’s worth the price of admission alone.
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hm
I just realized I should’ve followed the previous post’s link. :)
In any case, good book. The previous user linked to a kid’s version. The one you want is this: http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197273817&sr=8-1
# ISBN-10: 1592402038
# ISBN-13: 978-1592402038
NOT
# ISBN-10: 0399244913
# ISBN-13: 978-0399244919
There’s some book nerdery for ya.
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Re: Panda opens fire while dining, then departs.
At your recommendation (as well as others to the same book) I rushed out to the library today and picked it up.
Should I be concerned if I’ve found a stray space and I’m not event out of the Preface yet? Maybe I’ll try to pass it off as a horrible misshapen kerning issue and blame it on the publisher’s layout engine…
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Re: Panda opens fire while dining, then departs.
I think you’re on the right track there — you can’t really blame the author for the kerning of the typesetting…at least not in this book. I’m sure there’s a snarky book about that somewhere too. :)
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