Punctuation Celebration: The Period

Where would we writers be without punctuation confused for one thing everything we write would simply run together have you read the famous Ulysses novel by James Joyce there are at least two instances of stream of consciousness without any defining punctuation if you haven't read that then this introduction should give you an idea of just how frustrating it can be

See? Isn't this much nicer? Question marks, commas, and periods. Periods!How could we survive without them? They let us know when to stop /stop/ Otherwise we'd still be talking like they did in the days of the telegraph /stop/ And I'd imagine that would get pretty frustrating /comma/ not to mention wasting a lot of ink

So today begins the first in a weekly series to celebrate our oft overlooked companions: punctuation, equally as important as letters, words and the sentences they provide structure for. For our first installment, I present: Period's Perspective.

I'm the king of punctuation.

When I say "stop," they stop. When I say "jump," they say "That doesn't make sense, we're letters on a page," but even if they ask "How high?" they still need me.

Take a closer look. You think question marks are just as important as I am? I'm a PART of them! Without me, a question mark is just an awkward squiggly line. You need me for emphasis! A question mark is nothing but me thinking really hard about the answer so that a curl of smoke escapes my head.

And don't get me started on exclamation points. That's just me holding a sword! A sword that's four times as big as I am so you know I mean business.

A comma? Me with a beard!

Colon? Me and a buddy playing Chicken Fight.

Ellipses? Me and two friends at the movies, waiting for the previews to be over...

I'm everywhere. You cannot stop me.

Oh, you just had to go and bring that up didn't you? Yes, I know that I'm another name for a lady's "time of the month." Can I help it that my British cousin "Full Stop" has a cooler name than me? No, I'm not bitter at all.

You want me to stop? Well guess what! We don't stop until I say so, because that's what I do!

I'm a period. And I own you.