Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Hey, You Guuuyyyysssss!

Today, September 24, is the fifth annual National Punctuation Day®!!  Check out the web site; it's great!  From a newspaper article quoted on the site: National Punctuation Day®, the holiday that reminds America that a “semicolon is not a surgical procedure,” celebrates its fifth anniversary September 24. What started as a clever idea to remind corporations and professional people of the importance of proper punctuation has turned into an everyday mission to help school children learn the punctuation skills they need to be successful in life.

I have to admit that the first thing I thought of when I found out that today is National Punctuation Day® was The Electric Company, an educational TV show back in the early 70s.  I loved it then, and I still love seeing some of the re-runs.  I can remember watching it at school every morning in at least one grade, probably third.  I remember Morgan Freeman was a regular, as was Rita Moreno.  Bill Cosby was on during the first season, and segments he had taped for the show were repeated in subsequent episodes.  I still see actors and actresses occasionally and think, "Hey!  I remember him/her from Electric Company!"

But what comes to my mind (quite often, I'm sorry to say) whenever I hear the word "Punctuation" was the punctuation song from The Electric Company.  Remember it?  Care to sing along?  Well, here's a video from the show that I found on YouTube, and I've posted the lyrics afterward.  Enjoy!

Title:  Punctuation

Composer:  Joe Raposo / Elaine Laron

Lead vocals:  Lee Chamberlin, Rita Moreno

Backing vocals:  Short Circus #1

(Scene:  Lee and Rita, swaying in tropical outfits, with the kids chroma-keyed into the background.)

Chorus:

[SC]  Punctuation.  Punc, punc, punc, punctuation.

They are the little marks that use their influence

To help a sentence make more sense.

[LC]  Now a period is just a little dot,

But it occupies a very special spot.

If you should see a period, my friend,

Ah, then you know a sentence just came to an end.

Chorus:

[SC]  Punctuation.  Punc, punc, punc, punctuation.

They are the little marks that use their influence

To help a sentence make more sense.

[RM]  Now an exclamation point is saying, “Pow!

Yes, sirree!  I don’t mean maybe!  Boy, and how!”

When you see it there, it means you ought to say

That sentence in a MOST emphatic way!

Chorus:

[SC]  Punctuation.  Punc, punc, punc, punctuation.

They are the little marks that use their influence

To help a sentence make more sense.

[LC]  Now a question mark is always there to show

That there’s something that somebody wants to know.

Its as if a sentence tries to say to you,

“I don’t know the answer, but perhaps you do?”

Chorus:

[SC]  Punctuation.  Punc, punc, punc, punctuation.

They are the little marks that use their influence

To help a sentence make more sense.

[RM]  Now a comma is that funny little sign

That says, “Hey, wait.  Just a second.  Hold the line.”

When you see a comma, mostly it will mean

There are words you ought to take a breath between.

Chorus:

[SC]  Punctuation.  Punc, punc, punc, punctuation.

They are the little marks that use their influence

To help a sentence make more sense.

[LC, RM]  So if you want to be a reading sensation,

You’ve got to know your punctuation.

 

Did you enjoy that stroll down memory lane?  I did!

Happy Punctuation Day!!!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great thoughts!!  Fun video!  I recently started copying on paper six months worth of a ship's log by my great great grandfather (in 1897).  I'm having a terrible time with it though because there was very little punctuation used.  It's hard to distinguish a period from an ink splatter when he was writing on board a sailing vessel.  Maybe I should have found you first, and then shipped (no pun intended) these letters off to you to add all the necessary items so that we can read them fluently!!  Maybe punctuation wasn't that important back then.  Every letter seems to be one long sentence with no breaks except for a "~" mark at the very end before the salutation.  Ah well, I've got my work cut out for me.  I've decided to publish these as I decipher them in a wordpress blog and maybe there will be others out there who recognize the ship's name, or some of the people he talks about.

I envy you homeschooling your children.  If I had the chance to do it over again (mine are 14 and 16 and already into high school), I would homeschool.  

Feel free to email me at me08081@yahoo.com.....it would be fun to read your input on the poor Victorian man who couldn't set a period in his letters!  Sue

Anonymous said...

Please delete the previous comment, I was unaware that this was a shared journal.  Thanks.

Anonymous said...

And I wish you and yours a very Happy Punctuation Day as well! (She said emphatically!)

That really was a blast from the past--thanks for putting it up!

Beth

Anonymous said...

Happy Punctuation Day to you too :-)
I wish I would have known sooner so I could have wished all the teachers a happy Punctuation Day today too.
Martha

Anonymous said...

Beth is my proof reader.  I have a test journal, and have fixed most of the spelling issues, but after I post, I need to go back in several times to correct punctuation, and such :o)

Anonymous said...

Isn't that the same TV show that brought us conjunction junction?  -  Barbara

Anonymous said...

Barb, that was Schoolhouse Rock! "Conjunction Junction, what's your function..." :)

Beth

Anonymous said...

Oh, that was too much fun!  LOL xox
http://journals.aol.com/valphish/ThereisaSeason

Anonymous said...

What an interesting journal this is!!!  I've definitely added to my alerts; and will keep coming back!!!  Glad I clicked the link offered @Dusty Pages.
~S~
http://journals.aol.com/penlady708/notable-quotables/