Lapsing Into a Comma (Bill Walsh)

This book is amusingly and appropriately subtitled The Curmudgeon’s Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print—And How to Avoid Them. I’m not a curmudgeon yet, but I think I have great potential to become one someday, and I’ve seen my share of characters lapse into commas, so Walsh’s book became an instant favorite of mine the first time I read it.

I haven’t read it in a while, but I got to thinking about Lapsing Into a Comma again when I was writing my lament on lost hyphens (“Where Have All the Hyphens Gone?”). I’ve never seen anyone other than Bill Walsh take the time to explain why “bad hair day” isn’t hyphenated. In fact, I don’t know of anyone else who has explained the ins and outs of hyphenation in a way that makes sense and is often downright funny.

Of course the whole book isn’t about hyphens. Walsh also explains other misunderstood punctuation marks, points out some frequently misspelled and/or misused words, and reminds us to look out for “$100 dollars” and other sneaky errors. Best of all, his fun-to-read explanations show the reader how to think editorially. Lapsing Into a Comma has certainly made me a better writer and editor, and it didn’t even hurt!

This post could have been longer, but I got distracted while flipping through the book. Rather than go on and on describing the contents, I’ll just recommend that you read it yourself. Right now I’m going to read about “Moniker Lewinsky” again.