The Millions : Punctuate With Extreme Prejudice

Skip to Navigation
Skip to Content

Curiosities

Punctuate With Extreme Prejudice

By Garth Risk Hallberg posted at 11:12 am on May 26, 2011 1

Noreen Malone – writing in Slate – launches a rearguard action against the em-dash. Is it fair to harbor punctuation prejudice? If so, a confession: I can’t stand the ampersand.

Related posts:

Dear Colon On the heels of all this talk of colons, Emdashes...
How Many Spaces After A Period? According to Slate: “Typing two spaces after a period is...
For Your Weekend Slate offers up a treatise on “the greatness of gin.”...
Bradbury’s Legacy As Ray Bradbury’s 90th birthday approaches, Slate explores why his...
MFA vs. NYC? At Slate, Chad Harbach weighs in on the MFA....

Share this article

More from the Millions

One Response to “Punctuate With Extreme Prejudice”

Mark Olague
at 1:58 am on May 31, 2011
An article on the em dash with no mention of Celine, who used it way, way more than Emily Dickinson.

Post a Response

Comments with unrelated links will be deleted. If you'd like to reach our readers, consider buying an advertisement instead.

Anonymous and pseudonymous comments that do not add to the conversation will be deleted at our discretion.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

Garth Risk Hallberg is contributing editor for The Millions. He is the author of A Field Guide to the North American Family. His stories and essays have appeared in Glimmer Train, New York Magazine, Slate, Canteen, Best New American Voices 2008, and Best of the Web 2008. He lives in Brooklyn.

Don't miss: A Year in Reading 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005
Best of the Millennium; Readers' List

A new way to browse The Millions! Books and Reviews

Bookmark these links to stay on top of the hottest books:
Hot 100 | Awards | Movers & Shakers | Bargain Books | Kindle Bestsellers

Subscribe to RSS feeds for new releases: Literary fiction (for Kindle) | Biography | Graphic Novels | Food | History | Nonfiction | Science | Travel | New Release RSS Feeds for Movies, Music and More

More From Curiosities

Ben Greenman is on a roll May 22, 2012
Stocking Self Published Novels May 22, 2012
HMH Broke May 22, 2012
Tuesday New Release Day: Ford, Theroux, Johnson May 22, 2012
The New Republic’s New Reader May 21, 2012
View All

Other Recent Articles

Is ‘Fear of Music’ A Book? May 22, 2012
A Goofy State of Mind: My Grandmother’s Letters from Martha Gellhorn May 21, 2012
From the Library of Your Soul-Mate: The Unique Social Bond of Literature May 18, 2012
Everyday Super Heroines: On Womanthology May 17, 2012
Sing You a Book: Josh Ritter Gets Out of His Comfort Zone May 17, 2012
View All

Recent Comments

Jason Pontius says "You mention two of the books that are novellas (Music from Big Pink and Meat is Murder)— if you haven’t already, you should check out Kate..."Is ‘Fear of Music’ A Book?
Johanna van Zanten says "Thanks for this article and your support for the indie publisher. Now if only you would review and recommend E books too…."Stocking Self Published Novels
Brian A. Oard says "Thanks for this interview. Perhaps it will do something to cure Lobo Antunes’ undeserved obscurity..."Lost in Translation: The Curious Obscurity of António Lobo Antunes
E. James Lieberman says "Nice to see this. Not much of a novel reader, I loved “Sot Weed..” when I read it in..."A Chiefest Pleasure: Discovering The Sot-Weed Factor on its 50th Birthday
Ray Nolting says "I was interested in more about the writer’s grandmother. I work in Labette County, Kansas, and wonder..."A Goofy State of Mind: My Grandmother’s Letters from Martha Gellhorn

Advertise now on The Millions and other book sites!