This is a short (and cheeky) post on the necessity of using proper punctuation—particularly the hyphen—and how it can completely alter the meaning of your sentence, often with ill effect. This morning, for one reason or another, I was reminded of a conversation I had with @nofunnyname last week on the subject of him buying a car. He said:
“I need to get an old ass banger.”
So, is that ‘old-ass banger’
, or ‘old ass-banger’
? You decide ;)
+
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 in Writing.
Wes Mason said on 27 January, 2010 at 12:04 pm
*Definitely* the latter. ;)
Ro said on 27 January, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Neither. It was meant to say, “I need to get an old ass, banger.”
He was calling you a banger, but he needed an old ass.
Dan Metcalfe said on 27 January, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Being an efficient programmer, I was saving on words, I meant BOTH!
Jack said on 28 January, 2010 at 12:27 pm
“Lets eat my friend!”
vs
“Lets eat, my friend!”
Tricky said on 3 February, 2010 at 10:05 am
:-)
Heh, that reminds me of the time a new developer at an old company I worked at proclaimed “Man, thats some weak-ass tea!” (while sipping on a freshly made brew) – I asked aghast what exactly had been going on in the kitchen :-)
Hen Asraf said on 19 February, 2010 at 9:18 am
I helped my uncle jack off a horse.
I helped my uncle, Jack, off a Horse.