
Author and speaker Jeff Rubin founded National Punctuation Day in 2004, and it has been celebrated every September 24 since then. Today we remember how @%#$&*! important good punctuation is while gently pointing out, shall we say, infelicitous punctuation usage. (Rubin collects photos of signs and other printed materials with punctuation errors.) While some matters of punctuation are discretionary or subject to a particular publication’s style guide (the Oxford comma comes to mind, as do other idiosyncratic uses of the comma), some usages are simply wrong, and today’s an excellent day to notice and break any bad punctuation habits you might have. Like, you know, using apostrophe-s to pluralize a word. Yuck! Today of all days, be careful to avoid word crimes.