Comments on: “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” by Lynne Truss

By: Foreign Reader

Foreign Reader — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 10:08:42 +0000

Thanks, Ogo, and welcome to my blog. Trust me you won’t be disappointed when you read the book. Not that you really need any improvements to your already perfect punctuation, but the book is a lot of fun!

By: Ogo Ogbata

Ogo Ogbata — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 08:58:06 +0000

I am tempted to finally read this book, Irina. Well done!

By: Foreign Reader

Foreign Reader — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:01:15 +0000

My sympathies are with the “wankers”, I think. Playing with words in a creative way is fine, but being simply sloppy and careless is another story. Though, of course, I’ll never break my relationship with a friend just because of a missing apostrophe.

Merry Christmas, Cora!

By: CoraStam

CoraStam — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:27:36 +0000

Truss talks about berks and wankers, berks being ‘outrageously slipshod’ about language, wankers are those who are over-precise…
Suppose you had to choose to which side you belong, what would it be for you?
For me, I’d like to be something in between, because I’m not sloppy but I can appreciate people who are playing with words. Language is vivid phenomenon which means words and rules may change in time. So I’m tending to the ‘berks’ side…

By: Foreign Reader

Foreign Reader — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:26:13 +0000

Good news – I’m sure you’ll enjoy the book, Cora. Please share your impressions once you’ve read it.

By: CoraStam

CoraStam — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:00:41 +0000

How fast is Amazon!
Today the postman has brought me Lynne Truss’ punctuation guide.

I’m especially interested in the ‘comma’and maybe I will find as well some remarks about the use of three dots (…) instead of a question mark.

By: Foreign Reader

Foreign Reader — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:28:41 +0000

Rosemary sent me “Watching the English” nearly a year ago, Cora. It’ll be the next review in this category, I think, but I need to finish it first: when I took it with me to my first journey abroad, I could only manage half of it.

Kate Fox writes in a humourous way – that’s true – but I later told Rosemary that I’d felt sorry for the English while reading it: so many rules to observe. Rosemary laughted.

As for Lynne Truss and her book, I’m sure you will enjoy it. I learned a lot of new things about the English language from it! Punctuation is no longer a mystery to me.

Our common friends in the UK are lovely indeed: many of the books I’ve reviewed here – or are going to review – were sent to me by Ann also, or by Rosemary. They know exactly what I’ll like.

By: CoraStam

CoraStam — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:40:29 +0000

Sounds like an interesting book, Irina.
I might order it on Amazon in the coming days.
Funny to notice how the English take care of their foreign friends. Some time ago I received “Watching the English, The Hidden Rules of English Behavior” from my friend Ann Godridge when she and her husband Ryan visited us in Witney.
The author, Kate Fox, explains in a rahter pleasant humorous way English conversation and behavior codes. I find the book extremely useful and it has helped me already in several situations.
For instance, I understand much better now why the English take such a long time to say goodbye after a visit…and why they are so cautious in asking direct questions. They prefer to find out the things they’d like to know about people by making comments indirectly, hoping that one catches the hint, to avoid embarrassments on both sides.

So, this is also a special book