A panda walks into a saloon and growls, "Gimme a sandwich. After wolfing down the sandwich, he draws a six-shooter, plugs the piano player dead in the back, and heads for the door.
"Hey!" the bartender yells. "Where are you going? You haven't paid for your sandwich!"
"Idiot!" the panda replies. "I'm a PANDA! Look it up!" and he leaves.
The bartender looks up 'panda' in the dictionary and finds: "A large furry marsupial of the Asian continent. Eats shoots and leaves."
This story became the basis of a book in 2003 by Lynne Truss titled Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.
grammarly.com refers to the final comma before 'and' in a list as the Oxford comma. Its importance is illustrated by its absence from the following:
From Sky News: Top stories: World leaders at Mandela tribute, Obama-Castro handshake and same-sex marriage date set ...
A book dedication: To my parents, Ayn Rand and God
Describing a documentary about Merle Haggard: Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall.
Times of London: Highlights of Peter Ustinov's global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year old demigod and a dildo collector.
Since commas count as characters on Twitter, one wonders if the days of the Oxford comma are numbered.
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