Making Punctuation Relevant!

In between meetings, client crises and birthday cake (co-workers’ 60th) I checked my twitter feed, as I often do via @globalsultana, and viewed the trending topics (the most popular words being utilized in online conversations or “tweets”). Much to my surprise, I saw that twitter users had likely made @grammargirl’s day, with “National Punctuation” listed as a trending topic, competing with such illustrious topics as Jay-Z and Grey’s Anatomy. 

As I began to delve into this puzzling issue, refusing to believe that thousands of people across the world could possibly be excited about punctuation, I found that someone had baked punctuation cupcakes for the occasion, there were punctuation t-shirts and there was even a website to celebrate this special day of the year – National Punctuation Day – complete with a baking contest!

Now, who am I to say what is relevant to discuss or not discuss online? I mean, my favorite class in high school was English. I enjoyed paraphrasing John Donne for an assignment in the exact rhyming scheme and pentameter that it had been originally written in, and everyone in my English class hated me for it. But when thousands of people decide to celebrate National Punctuation Day, one cannot doubt the power of social media to spread the merits of something as geeky as grammer, I mean grammar.