Eats, shoots, and leaves.

A panda walks into a bar. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.

"Why?" asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"Well, I'm a panda," he says fom the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. "Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal. Native to China. Eats, shoots, and leaves."


That panda has come to be synonymous with the importance of correct punctuation. I cannot stress how many times I have seen commas overused just because "I thought it needed one," "It seemed to fit," "I didn't think I had enough commas," etc. There is a time and a place for a comma, and the insertion of a needless one or the deletion of an important one can change the entire meaning of your sentence.

If only that panda had read "eats shoots and leaves" instead of "eats, shoots, and leaves." But then, perhaps, the world would not know the importance of correct punctuation.

I have never read Lynne Truss's book, but she seems like a woman after my own heart! (Pondering: Why is the saying "after my own heart" when "my" and "own" are simply redundant?)