favourite piece of punctuation

The favourite piece of punctuation is: the semi-colon (nominated by Larry). Oddly, this is my favourite piece of punctuation too. It reminds me of a conversation I had with Paisley back when I was in grad school and he scoffed at my love of semi-colons and I was daunted and doubted myself but prevailed and continue, still, to use semi-colons in excess.

The other competing piece of punctuation, from my point of view, is the parenthesis. The parenthesis is especially good for email (and blog postings as it turns out). Here too I have been criticized for my use of parentheses (also when I was a grad student and published my first book review and a prof I respected said, “too many parentheses!”) But here too I prevailed and overuse this form of punctuation as well.

The “piece of punctuation” is also my favourite category in the list of favourites. Other good categories include: favourite guitar chord (G, nominated by David P); favourite fruit picked fresh from the tree (fig, (Richard C); and most useful class (Grade nine typing, Steve G).

Weirdly, minutes after writing this post I rec’d the following email with references to the semi-colon and parenthesis:

"The constant use of the semicolon on any page, handwritten or printed, causes the eye to jump to the punctuation instead of concentrating on the subject expounded upon, just as a ‘river’ -- vertical space on a type page caused by inexpert setting -- disturbs vision. Where a semicolon can't be replaced by a simple comma, it is often better to rephrase the thought into two or more separate sentences for easier comprehension."
Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette: A Guide to Gracious Living (1952): 422

Secretarial handbooks ("office practices") may also be worth a look.

For fun, this --
The curves ( ).
"Rule. -- The curves are used to enclose a remark, reference, or explanation, that has little if any connection with the rest of the sentence... The enclosed expression is called a parenthesis. The same name is sometimes applied to the enclosing marks, but the term curves is shorter and more appropriate."
ex J Willis Westlake, How to Write Letters: A Manual of Correspondence, showing the correct structure, composition, punctuation, formalities, and uses of the various kinds of Letters, Notes, and Cards. Philadelphia: Sower, Potts & Co., 1882 [c1876] : 200.