Dont Walk

This idea in this blog is brought to you by Kristina H. who noticed the lack of apostrophe in the don't walk sign which is actually written "dont walk." It begs the question: how does language create meaning? She made the astute observation that without the apostrophe the sign is really just meaningless letters. So why should we care about spelling and punctuation? Has there ever been a fatality when a person attempted to cross the road when the sign said "dont walk" but the person was so confused and headed right across a street with cars whizzing to and fro? Hopefully not!

As I am writing this, my student teacher is ensuring students know how to properly punctuation a letter written to a Sir or Madam. The lesson demonstrates a colon must follow the Sir or Madam for a formal letter. Would a person receiving a letter be put off if a measly little comma followed her name rather than a colon? Or does it matter if a student writes me an email and doesn't capitalize my name? I guess you probably know my answer: yes, it matters! Just as it shows more respect to have a firm handshake than a weak handshake, it shows respect to the recipient when care is taken to properly punctuate a letter/document.

Another perspective is to understand rules are made to help and to direct. Rules give our diverse population a simplified way to understand one another. So, I say, change the "dont walk" sign to a hand that shows stop. I also say, if you email a teacher, be sure to capitalize her name. And by the way, English is always capitalized. News to you??