Eats, Shoots and Leaves

A terrific book by Lynn Truss discussing the importance of grammar while simultaneously giving the basic rules of punctuation. Truss does so in an entertaining way, and she actually makes grammar... fun. (Yes, grammar made fun. Now close your mouth; people are starting to stare.)

If this sentence makes you cringe, then this is the book for you:

"The every day mans mind was blown away when he discovred grammer and it's importance in todays soicety."

"I just finished reading the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves... and MAN, was I entertained!"

Example based on one of Lynn Truss's (double posessive, yes, I realize this):

I just got back from the park. There was a sign that said, 'No Dogs Please.' This is in fact untrue. Many dogs DO please! You can't steriotype dogs into all of the same category! That's just wrong.

* * *

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, and then draws a gun and fires two shots into the air.
"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a poorly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
"I'm a panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.
"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

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eats, shoots and leaves

The title of an excellent book. It generally tells about the downfall of british language and punctuation and grammar, etc.
Below is the reason the book is called this. If you don't 'get' it, don't bother reading the book.

A panda walks into a cafe. He walks up to the waiter and orders a chicken sandwich. He eats it, then whips a pistol from somewhere in his fur. He fires two shots into the air, then makes his way to the door. Before he leaves, the waiter runs up to him shouting 'What ARE you doing?!' The panda looks fed up. He whipped out a badly punctuated nature book, then flicked it to the page about pandas. pointing to one part, he told the waiter to read.
The waiter read: 'Panda; eats, shoots and leaves'

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