Semicolon Tragedy
Here is an example of some classic newspaper-reporter bullshit. The New York Times today (yes, we’re still reading it) reports a story on the use of a semicolon in a public transit sign. Great. BUT THEY DON’T QUOTE THE FULL SENTENCE INTACT. The whole goddamn point of the article is the beauty of the use of the semicolon in the sentence on the sign, but the reporter never shows you what that looks like. He breaks it in half and tells you about it. The point of the story is lost.
Nice going, Sam Roberts.
As much as possible, reporters should report things in an unfiltered manner. The minute they start turning into cute little feature writers, things to to hell.
So, here’s the sentence:
“Please put it in a trash can; that’s good news for everyone.”
Not all that lovely, if you ask me, but at least you can judge for yourself.
