It’s been pointed out to me that I make terrible use of punctuation. That is, I use punctuation incorrectly on a fairly frequent basis. This is particularly true regarding the use of commas around words such as “but” and “however.” I also overuse the dash. And, I often start sentences with conjunctions.

It’s not that I don’t know the rules – I’ve read Strunk and White The Elements of Style – I’m just lax in applying them. I seem to get distracted by the words I type. It’s like I hear pauses in my head that, probably, aren’t needed. Commas, semicolons, colons and dashes all blur into a single break point. Even now, I’m aware of deliberately making mistakes for comedic effect, and trying to be precise, and, actually not really knowing what I’m doing. I wonder if there is some psychological term that describes these grammatical abuses: some derivative of dyslexia or Asperger’s. Or, is it a written form of speech impediment?

If it was just part of my short form, blog persona – an aspect of my sardonic style – a quick splatter of words to fill the post – a deliberate laissez-faire flow of consciousness, word jumble, that sometimes makes more sense than it should…

I don’t know.

I do know that I also poorly punctuate longer form pieces, as well. So, maybe, it is an intellectual or emotional fault.

Or, maybe, the fault lies in the reader who is bothered by such trivialities?

No. I must take responsibility and endeavor to improve my presentation of the blindingly brilliant insights I expound.

I’ll re-read Strunk and White and see if that helps.

Or, you know, maybe I won’t.